Germany head coach Joachim Low has sprung a huge surprise by leaving Leroy Sane out of his 23-man squad for the Fifa World Cup.
Manchester City winger Sane was one of four players cut from Germany’s 27-man provisional squad, the BBC reports. Freiburg’s Nils Petersen and Bayer Leverkusen duo Bernd Leno and Jonathan Tah also miss out.
There is a place in the squad, however, for goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who returned after nine months injured in Germany’s 2-1 friendly defeat against Austria on Saturday.
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Germany, the reigning champions, are in World Cup group F, along with Mexico, Sweden and the Korea Republic.
Germany’s 23-man World Cup squad
- Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Paris St-Germain)
- Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha Berlin), Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea), Niklas Sule (Bayern Munich)
- Midfielders: Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Paris St-Germain), Leon Goretska (Schalke), Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Sebastian Rudy (Bayern Munich)
- Strikers: Mario Gomez (Stuttgart), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig)
Sane’s omission from the German squad shocked many football pundits and fans. We look at the reaction on Twitter:
Germany must have strength in depth…
A strange decision.
Even Dr Phil is shocked.
It was a record-breaking season for Sane.
Enjoy the time off.
Madness.
Is Sane English at all?
Other stars who will miss Russia 2018.