FRANCFORT, Germany (AP) – Manuel Neuer is on his way to playing for Germany for the first time in months after being named to the team on Friday for the upcoming games against Turkey, Ukraine and Switzerland.
Bayern Munich’s goalkeeper returns to the call-up alongside Leipzig defenders Lukas Klostermann and Marcel Halstenberg, who were excluded from the German national team for draws against Spain and Switzerland last month to rest later in the Champions League tournament in August.
Germany will face Turkey on Wednesday in a friendly match that will see coach Joachim Lew line up a very weakened team. Then came here the league of nations fissies opposed to Ukraine on 10 October and at home against Switzerland on 13 October.
Neuer last played for Germany in the European Championship qualifiers in Estonia and Belarus in November.
The German football federation said that five Bayern players, in addition to Neuer, such as Klostermann, Halstenberg and Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos, would all be exempt from playing in the friendly with Turkey.
Bayern striker Leroy Sané does not suffer a knee injury, while Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen and Paris Saint-Germain defenceman Thilo Kehrer are also injured. Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gondogan is absent after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
The resolve to play a friendly in an era of fitness congestion has raised considerations in some German clubs, as has holidays in Ukraine, which is considered an endangered domain of coronavirus infection through Germany’s main public fitness agency.
___
Goalkeepers: Bernd Leno (Arsenal), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt).
Defenders: Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Monchengladbach), Robin Gosens (Atalanta), Marcel Halstenberg (Leipzig), Benjamin Henrichs (Leipzig), Lukas Klostermann (Leipzig), Robin Koch (Leeds), Antonio Ràdiger (Chelsea ), Nico Schulz (Dortmund), Niklas Stark (Hertha)
Midfielders: Nadiem Amiri (Leverkusen), Mahmoud Dahoud (Dortmund), Julian Draxler (Paris Saint-Germain), Leon Goretzka (Bayern), Jonas Hofmann (Gladbach), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Florian Neuhaus (Gladbach), Suat Serdar (Schalke).
Forwards: Julian Brandt (Dortmund), Serge Gnabry (Bayern), Kai Havertz (Chelsea), Luca Waldschmidt (Benfica), Timo Werner (Chelsea).
___
More AP football: https://apnews. com/Soccer and https://twitter. com/AP_Sports