Florian Wirtz stole the show with two goals in Germany’s 4-3 win over Switzerland on Friday night, one of which wouldn’t look out of place on the shortlist for the 2026 FIFA Puskas Award.
The 22-year-old linked up with his national team having not scored in his last eight matches for Liverpool, with that dip in form leading to Craig Burley describing the playmaker’s move to Anfield last summer as a ‘bit of a waste‘.
However, the Reds’ number 7 showed for his country last night just why the Merseyside club made him their first £100m+ signing nine months ago.
With the teams level at 2-2 on the hour mark, Serge Gnabry played a short corner to Wirtz, who moved towards the edge of the penalty area and shaped to deliver a cross – or so it seemed.
In actuality, he spotted a gap at the far post and duly curled an unstoppable shot into Gregor Kobel’s net to edge Germany in front for the first time in a see-saw encounter.
He would later go on to score a late winner for the Nationalmannschaft after Switzerland had drawn level at 3-3, and he also claimed the assist for the first-half goals for Jonathan Tah and Gnabry.
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It’s no exagerration to state that Wirtz was the star of the show in Basel on Friday, either scoring or setting up all four of his country’s goals and treating us to a simply outrageous strike in the second half.
He played five key passes, had three shots on target overall and even missed one ‘big chance’ (along with creating three). In terms of his work off the ball, he won four tackles and five of his eight duels in an overall outstanding performance (Sofascore).
The 22-year-old frequently steps up to the plate for Germany, being one of the few to impress in their unconvincing win over Luxembourg in November, and his all-action display against Switzerland further underlines the belief that he’ll be central to his nation’s bid for a fifth World Cup triumph this summer.
Hopefully Wirtz can bottle his heroics from last night and sprinkle such stardust over Liverpool’s remaining fixtures this season – this guy is special!
You can view Wirtz’s wonder goal below, via @sporttvportugal on X:
Mas que bilhete de Wirtz 😮#sporttvportugal #FUTEBOLnaSPORTTV #JogodePreparação #Suiça #Alemanha pic.twitter.com/34nvcyLgBv
— sport tv (@sporttvportugal) March 27, 2026
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Slot doesn’t know how to unlock wirtz. Alonso can bring this guy to the next level!
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