crinkly_ears | Germany v France - Mesut Returns To The Weser Stadion

Germany v France - Mesut Returns To The Weser Stadion - The Match Spam!

Some uniquely beautiful photographs came out of this game, and

andriy_7's gifs were especially lovely too!

Back Home In Bremen.

Mesut looked pleased as Punch to be home, in every way.

This adorable photograph has been added to the user-info!

The stadium was full of reminders, from very excitable fans (some of them holding signs saying they missed him!)...

...to the locker-room which would have been very familiar to him.

This made it especially nice that Mesut was honoured as "National Player of The Year" in front of his old home-fans by the DFB fan-club.

Doutbtless Mesut will put his new poster next to his famous photograph of himself standing next to Angela Merkel (which has, apparently, pride of place in his living room!).

The Warm-Up!

It was all awfully bromantic. Mesut and Sami were, as usual, quite inseparable.

Very subtle boys, very subtle!

There were friendly greetings from Eric Abidal of FC Barcelona and Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich. Interestingly, Mesut's first goal of his Bundesliga career came against Bayern Munich - a perfect screamer of a shot. A goal, arguably, he's never quite replicated for sheer nerve and gorgeousness.

Perhaps he sent greetings to Karim Benzema? We should refrain, perhaps, from the obvious joke in these situations.

That up there was Mesut's last peaceful moment.

The Match Spam

A lovely shot from Mesut - but to no avail!

Playing in front of a shaky, experimental defence (Joachim Loew starts Denis Aogo in defence one more time and I will fly to Germany to throttle him myself - and possibly little Denis too) and an off-colour defensive midfield, the attack was nearly as fluent as ever, but Germany simply could not get into a rhythm.

Mesut's other shot - which got some warm applause from his old fans!

Wiese did his usual creditable, not brilliant, goal-keeping job. His distribution is nothing on Neuer however (the highlight of Neuer's game, in fact) and this meant attacks from the back started clumsily. Mesut, Thomas, and Miroslav Klose can normally count on a ball from Neuer being sent straight at their feet. Wiese is not nearly so accurate and everything launched from the back became a 50-50 ball.

The French defence was also simply better. Germany were also unlucky in front of goal. Mesut missed two beautiful shots, efforts from Mueller, Klose and Gomez (eventually substituted on) all went wide or hit the wood-work.

On the ground with Abidal hovering over him. "The more things change..."

All in all, most of the pictures of Mesut from this game range from the cheesed-off to the faintly distraught. It's been pointed out before that Mesut doesn't even look particularly cheerful when games are going his way, so it was, frankly, rather distressing!

To add insult to injury he was forced into a wall with the even-more-scared looking Andre Schuerrle. Mesut actually pulled him toward the wall, which is an interesting reversal of positions since it's normally other players forcing Mesut into one!

"Be brave Andre! I'm right next to you!"

And when Andre was stretchered off some time later, he took up his position next to Kroos - rather braver than Mesut, but not much!

The gif above shows good thinking - from defending in the wall to attempting to break, to winning a corner off Abidal (deja vous!) - but it came to nothing!

Indeed, there's no question at all that Mesut was Germany's best player. He topped every single ratings list in Germany (typical headline: "Even in Defeat, Ozil the Best") but it was a disappointment from a player who is no longer used to losing.

It took a goal from Helmut (otherwise known as Stuttgart's Cacau) to give Germany a respectable looking score-line. The next time Jogi Loew sends on Mario Gomez before he sends on Helmut I shall throttle him a second time!

Helmut's arrival was welcome. Mesut finally had someone on the pitch, aside form Sami Khedira, who felt his pain.

Helmut echoing Mesut's irritation - an irritation lacking in nearly anyone else!

Indeed, by the end of the game, even Mesut's eye-lashes had taken on a near-eloquent air.

Happily, irritation brought out the best in Mesut - a need to rip off his shirt the instant the whistle blew! So you see - there's a silver-lining in nearly every situation!

And our flushed, crinkly-eared hero departed the field topless and crinkly-eared.

Delicious.

Apparently he liked being in his old stadium grounds since Mesut showed a reluctance to leave, sitting on the steps to soak up the atmosphere.

ahem!

And exchanged head-pats and greetings with Abidal and Nasri of France.

And there we have it: Germany 1 France 2. It was Germany's last friendly before this coming May. Better luck next time Mesut and the boys!

Love and more love the invariably patient

andriy_7 who never once asks what happens to the beautiful things he sends me when they go...missing...for a couple of days.
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