Nati star Xhemaili has big plans: ‘I am at a different level than a year ago’

class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

Eleven players in the national team of Pia Sundhage (64), consisting of 28 women, are younger than 21 years old. This also includes Riola Xhemaili (20), but with 24 international matches, the winger is also one of the more experienced.

Xhemaili could have played a few more international matches since their debut. But under ex-Nati coach Inka Grings (45), she only played a supporting role last year and was even left out of the selection for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

With Wolfsburg in the middle of the title race

“Last year was certainly not what I had imagined,” Xhemaili says today. The attacking talent wants to attack again under the new national coach. She traveled to Nati’s training camp in Marbella with a lot of self-confidence – even though she often sits alone on the bench at her club Wolfsburg.

“I am at a completely different football level than a year ago,” says Xhemaili enthusiastically, who moved from Freiburg to the German top club last summer. There she now plays with Bundesliga stars such as Alexandra Popp, Lena Oberdorf and Ewa Pajor. “The level is much higher. This allows me to benefit enormously from training alone,” said the national team player

The standards in Wolfsburg are as high as the standards. After 14 of the 22 rounds, the Wolves are one point behind leaders Bayern Munich. And the title is also the big goal in the DFB Cup, where we will face Hoffenheim in the quarter-finals at the beginning of March. “These expectations also bring a certain pressure,” says Xhemaili. “But I can handle it well.”

“I have always spoken my mind”

What helps her is that she always openly says what she thinks. That was also the case after the World Cup elimination last summer, when Xhemaili wrote on Instagram “about the most difficult days of her career”. Or after the dismissal of Inka Grings, when she was one of the first players to publicly announce that she welcomed this decision.

“I have always expressed my opinion, even though I was sometimes advised not to do so,” says Xhemaili. She has never regretted it until now. “I am very proud that I am always honest and transparent.”

Gring’s successor Sundhage will also be able to get an idea of ​​this in the coming days. In Marbella, the new national coach plans individual conversations with all players. With the good feeling from Wolfsburg, Xhemaili wants to convince the Swede not only off the field, but also on the field.

Source : Blick