Footballers like to emphasize how indifferent they are to the grades in the press. Club reporters believe that until they receive an angry phone call from those very same players. It is not uncommon for the actors then to want to renegotiate a 3.5 into a 3.0.
The Freiburg defender Nico Schlotterbeck is characterized by a certain open-heartedness, so that one would certainly believe his equanimity towards grades. Only these days Schlotterbeck can no longer avoid knowing her. Earlier this week, friends sent him several messages and screenshots of the Kicker-Note editing on the mobile phone. He has an extraordinary value of 2.50, the third best of all Bundesliga players – only Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski are better off. “It makes me proud that others also appreciate my achievements,” says Schlotterbeck, “except for two halves against Leipzig and Fürth, I didn’t play too badly either.”
“Not so bad” is an understatement: Schlotterbeck, 21, matured this season to become a national player and leading player at SC Freiburg. Kicker-Notes lie just as little as Danes (according to Otto Waalkes) and the table (according to “Doppelpass” broadcasts 1995-2021). In the latter, Schlotterbecks Freiburg are in the top group of the league – with the best defense. They are also the only team unbeaten in twelve competitive games this season.
Schlotterbeck combines the old and new schools of defense
When they compete at Bayern this Saturday, the third will meet the first. Even trainer Christian Streich, who usually patters the game with Olympic vigor, could no longer deny the term “top game”. Nico Schlotterbeck considers the label for the game to be perfectly appropriate: “For me it is a top game because we also belong to the top game – we are in a good position ourselves. And we have earned every single point.”
When you talk to the native Waiblinger or meet him at the snack bars in Freiburg after the games, you immediately notice that a newcomer is facing the turbulence in the industry with remarkable nonchalance. Schlotterbeck learned this virtue from a bon vivant in Berlin with whom he played during his loan from Union last year: Max Kruse. The two duels at the table tennis table immediately before the home games and could only be interrupted if the coach wanted to go through the opponent’s line-up. “I admired Max’s looseness, how he goes into games,” says Schlotterbeck: “He’s not at all nervous. We had a very good connection because he ticks like me.”
With the kick-off of a game, however, the laissez-faire immediately disappears from both of them. Freiburg’s defender combines the old and new schools of defense. In the past, the job profile of a man hitler included Buchwald’s “calf bite”, tight and heated duels, often with verbal post-processing. Schlotterbeck drove even Dortmund’s striker Erling Haaland to despair on the second match day with his perfectly placed tackles and his persistence in the duel.
The Norwegian pushed Schlotterbeck to the ground again after a duel, but is said to have congratulated his opponent after the 1: 2 defeat. It is the core competencies of a defensive player that are sometimes neglected in the numerous requirements for opening a game in modern football. Schlotterbeck also masters the introductory ball from behind, it is important for the flat Freiburg play structure.
That Nico Schlotterbeck is now playing with his brother in Freiburg? “I’m not happy about it,” he says
In addition to national coach Hansi Flick, these qualities did not go unnoticed by other clubs in the league, the interest was passed down from Leverkusen and Stuttgart. For a moment in the summer, as the newly crowned U21 European champion, Schlotterbeck also thought of a change. But less for financial reasons, more because of the competition with his brother Keven in Freiburg.
It was a coincidence that the two defenders play together at SC. “I’m not happy about it, I’ll say that openly. We have to accept it now, we couldn’t do it any other way,” says Nico Schlotterbeck. As usual with brothers, the Schlotterbecks tackle each other in training more roughly than their colleagues. While the rather quieter Keven sometimes “drive down a gear!” calls over, Nico replies: “Get a little more out of yourself!” His brother Keven is a bit more introverted, and he himself is a “loudspeaker” in the cabin.
Keven Schlotterbeck (pictured) is considered to be a little more introverted, while brother Nico is the “loudspeaker” of the booth.
(Photo: Friso Gentsch / dpa)
Both suffered setbacks in their professional training. Keven went the detour via lower-class clubs such as TSG Backnang or VfL Kirchheim / Teck before moving to SC Freiburg. Nico spent most of his youth in youth training centers, but was retired from the Stuttgart Kickers in the U16. He has not forgotten the moment when his father came home from talking to those responsible: “That was a blow for me. We were successful, I was there for a long time, had many friends – at that moment I feel like it lost in football. ” It was only at VfR Aalen that he found the fun again and after the disappointment he developed a great deal of enthusiasm to finally make it to Freiburg via Karlsruhe.
The Schlotterbecks have maintained this ambition to this day – and it also explains a little bit of Freiburg’s current soaring. The brothers do extra shifts in the weight room, which the established players also join. “The weight room is always full after training because everyone wants to do something for themselves,” says Schlotterbeck: “So you can say: The people of Freiburg go extra pumping – and not too little.” Fitness and willingness to run, especially against the ball, are known to be two important characteristics of third place in the table.
Powerful announcements are still taboo in Freiburg. When it comes to the European Cup, many players keep a vow of silence with reference to a possible scolding from the coach. But Nico Schlotterbeck says: “I want to do international business with Freiburg. I openly admit this goal.”
How does the trainer find it? Schlotterbeck believes he knows his way. And if you don’t shy away from Haaland and Streich, you should also be prepared for the duel with Robert Lewandowski.