Jürgen Klopp has officially begun his tenure as Germany's national football coach, bringing with him a wave of renewed optimism ahead of his first competitive match — a UEFA Nations League fixture against the Netherlands in Amsterdam's Johan Cruijff Arena. The 59-year-old, who previously led Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool to major honours, inherits a team that has suffered three consecutive early exits at World Cups and is widely expected to signal a turning point for German football.

At a press conference on the eve of the match, Klopp was in characteristically buoyant form, delivering what observers described as a near stand-up comedy routine. When asked about memories of fierce Dutch-German encounters from the 1980s and 1990s — a rivalry famous for moments such as Frank Rijkaard spitting at Rudi Völler — Klopp quipped that Völler would be better placed to answer. When told that goalkeeper Marc ter Stegen had been waiting in the tunnel for several minutes to take his seat at the table, Klopp was unmoved: