Mats Hummels - A Look at one of the Greatest Defenders of his Generation

Mats Hummels – A Look at one of the Greatest Defenders of his Generation

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By Jonathan Lewis | 16th Nov 2022

Mats Hummels has been left out of Germany’s 2022 FIFA World Cup Squad with younger upcoming players preferred to him as he is firmly in the latter stages of his career; his average form the last couple of seasons after returning to Borussia Dortmund has affected his reputation, but the football World should not forget how good he was in his prime.

Hummels earned legendary status at both of Germany’s giant clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, winning Bundesliga titles with both and appearing in a UEFA Champions League final for Dortmund against Bayern in 2012/13 where he bitterly missed out on club football’s greatest prize to the team he would later join.

Germany will certainly lack Hummel’s leadership, but at this point in his career, it may be the correct decision to give younger players that could become future legends the vital experience necessary for their development. Germany remains one of the heavyweight nations going into the World Cup but they are certainly not one of the key favourites to triumph in Qatar, with the likes of Brazil and France favoured in the betting markets. PlaylogiQ is an iGaming platform that is partnered with several different companies to provide the best sports betting experience online. Germany is offered at 11/1 to win the tournament at BetBuq which is partnered with PlaylogiQ.

Hummels’ International Success

Hummels played a starring role in Germany’s World Cup win of 2014 from the outset as in the opening game he scored a header in a convincing 4-0 win against Portugal. More importantly in the quarter-final after being forced to miss the round of 16 through illness, he scored the only goal against France at the Estadio de Maracana which sent the Germans to the last four of the World Cup.

In the final he prevented the likes of Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain from finding the net from the abundance of chances that came to them, it was largely due to Hummels’ defensive heroics that Germany took the game to extra time in which Mario Gotze scored late on. Hummels was undoubtedly one of the key components in constructing Germany’s first World Cup win in 24 years since and his omission from this tournament will surely deprive the squad of vital experience and the know-how of winning big knockout fixtures.

Bundesliga Great

Hummels is possibly the greatest Bundesliga defender of modern times and is certainly one of the greatest defenders to emerge worldwide in the late 2000s to 2010s. Between 2010/11 and 2018/19 he won five Bundesliga titles, two managed by Jurgen Klopp at Dortmund who moulded him into the dominant defender he become, before winning a further three while playing in Munich.

Criticism is often placed on players who spend their entire career in a single nation, but Hummels has proven himself time and time again on the top stage at both club and international levels. In the UEFA Champions League, the duo of Hummels and Subotic provided a safety blanket as Dortmund raced to the final in 2013 including a remarkable victory over Real Madrid in the semi-final.

Hummels is a modern great of football and he should be remembered fondly within the game despite a decline in form over recent years as he approaches the end of his career.

Jonathan Lewis is an MFF sports writer

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