Manuel Neuer is insisting that the whole squad of Germany is behind the decision of Mesut Ozil to quit international football. He is backing this, what he termed as “racism and disrespect”. The 29-year-old player called time during his nine-year career in football with Die Mannschaft after blaming the German Football Association (DFB) for treating the player with “disrespect and racism”. The issue was raised over the photograph that features player with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president. The picture was clicked before the World Cup.
When Neuer was asked the question whether if he was upset by the decision of Ozil, then he replied: “I am not it is the player’s decision. If Ozil and Gundogan or other players of the team would have performed well at the World Cup, then we wouldn’t have stood here and discussing this,” he said. “If player himself is saying he wants retirement from the game, it is all his decisions. Now, he has to search the reason and in this case, he has found this one.
“As far as our acceptance of the decision is concerned, we are accepting his decision. This is not like it is happening for the first time, in the past years as well; many players had quit their football career at the national team after tournaments like the World Cup.”