At the start of the international season, the quarter-finals in the Nations League are in focus this week. A look at the potential stars of the four ties.
19.03.2025, 15:17
19.03.2025, 16:32
SDA
The knockout round of the fourth edition of the Nations League begins on Thursday with the quarter-final first legs. The semi-finalists will contest the Final Four at the beginning of June - either in Stuttgart and Munich or in Turin, depending on whether Germany or Italy prevail in the direct duel this week. In the other quarter-finals, Croatia and France, the Netherlands and Spain and Denmark and Portugal will play.
Italy - Germany: Moise Kean
Despite greats such as Paolo Rossi, Roberto Baggio, Filippo Inzaghi and Christian Vieri, scoring goals has never been the outstanding feature of the Italian national team. Luigi Riva has been the Squadra Azzurra's record goalscorer since 1973 with 35 goals. For some years now, however, the search for goalscoring talents has been a real problem for Italian national team coaches. Now, with Moise Kean, an old promise could finally be fulfilled.
The 25-year-old Kean is set to play his 20th international match in Milan on Thursday evening - almost seven years after his first. What lies between these two games has been a rollercoaster ride for the former wonderkid, with seven changes of club. His market value has varied between 14 and 40 million euros, with the lowest point being reached last summer. After a season without scoring a goal, Juventus Turin let him go. He is flourishing at arch-rivals Fiorentina. By mid-March, he had already scored 20 goals, more than ever before in a single season.
Alongside Kean, a second Italian striker of almost the same age, Mateo Retegui from Atalanta Bergamo, is also on a high. The two attackers ensure that for the first time since 2014, the Serie A scoring charts are topped by two locals so late in the season. Thanks to the duo and the good group stage in the Nations League, the four-time world champions have high hopes for better times and more consistent performances. "Is the real Italy back? Germany will show us", writes the "Gazzetta dello Sport".
Croatia - France: Ousmane Dembélé
Didier Deschamps never lost faith in Ousmane Dembélé. Not when he left Borussia Dortmund with strikes, not when he suffered injury after injury at FC Barcelona and not when his dribbles in the national team were regularly followed by lost balls or missed shots. At the age of 27 and after 53 international caps, Dembélé moved to the French training base in Clairefontaine, south of Paris, on Monday with a new status.
Under Spanish coach Luis Enrique, Dembélé has made the leap to goal scorer at Paris Saint-Germain. Since the start of the year, he has scored an incredible 22 goals - more than any other player in the top leagues. With the seriousness that the passionate Playstation player has lacked so far, the Rennes-trained striker is now going about his task, say observers and acquaintances. As both Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé, who has returned to the national team after a break, play as center forwards at the club, the French sports newspaper "L'Equipe" took a detailed look on Wednesday at how Dembélé and Mbappé can best be deployed.
Netherlands - Spain: Dean Huijsen
Dean Huijsen's inclusion was no surprise, even though the defender only made the Spain squad after Iñigo Martinez was ruled out. The 19-year-old is having an exceptional season with Bournemouth under his compatriot Andoni Iraola and can hope to make his first international appearance in the young defense of the European champions in Rotterdam on Thursday - against his second home of all places.
The path to becoming a Spanish international was a special one for Huijsen. The England international, who is almost two meters tall, was born in Amsterdam. His father, Donny Huijsen, played for Ajax in the 1990s alongside Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert. He was so good in the meantime that he was nicknamed "Maradonny". At the age of 24 and after a few scandals, his father Huijsen ended his career and emigrated to Andalusia. Dean grew up in Marbella and took the decisive steps to becoming a professional in Spain. "Football-wise, I'm a Spaniard," says Huijsen.
Denmark - Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo
Before his first international match as a 40-year-old, Cristiano Ronaldo received accolades from all sides. Criticized as a weak point at last summer's European Championship, the record-breaking striker from Madeira has long since returned to being an exceptional goal producer. He has increased his tally with Portugal by five goals in the last five international matches and now stands at 135 goals in 217 games. In Saudi Arabia, he scored 28 times in 33 games this season.
Like Roger Federer in the autumn of his career, Ronaldo is a mixture of dangerous opponent, role model and living legend. The Dane Rasmus Höjlund, who plays for Manchester United and, like Ronaldo, celebrates his birthday at the beginning of February, said: "I fell in love with football thanks to Ronaldo and became a Manchester United fan because of him. Ronaldo made me do sit-ups and push-ups every day before going to bed. I wanted to be like Ronaldo," says the 22-year-old striker, who was born six months before Ronaldo's first international match.
