Confirmed Lineups: Germany U21s vs. Bulgaria U21s
Germany U21 head-coach Antonio di Salvo's DFB-Juniors seek to sew up qualification for next summer's UEFA U21 European Championship with a win against the visiting Bulgarian U21s in Regensburg this evening. A win against the already-eliminated Bulgarians - whom di Salvo's team defeated last October - will suffice to ensure automatic passage.
Di Salvo's October call ups featured plenty of changes to the September squad. Despite that, there are only two outfield changes to the last XI di Salvo employed. Injured actors Karim Adeyemi (Dortmund) and Merlin Röhl (SC Freiburg) are replaced by BVB striker Maximilian Beier and Eintracht Frankfurt attacker Ansgar Knauff.
The starting XI features three strikers in Beier, Stuttgart's Nick Woltemade, and Hannover 96's Nicolo Tresoldi. A 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 both remain distinct possibilities, though Woltemade thrived in a 4-2-3-1 set-up in the previous two September fixtures. As expected, Freiburg's Noah Atubolu has returned to start between the sticks above Köln's Jonas Urbig.
Confirmed Lineups:
Germany U21s vs. Bulgaria U21s
Bulgaria U21s (4-3-3):
Hristov - Papazov, Chernev, Jelenkovic, Georgiev - Shopov, Tsenov, Stoyanov, Petkov, Rupanov, N. Iliev
Germany U21s (4-2-3-1):
Atubolu - Netz, Arrey-Mbi, Rosenfelder, Thielmann - Reitz, Martel - Knauff, Woltemade, Beier - Tresoldi
Potential Germany U21 formation (4-2-3-1):
