Borussia Dortmund’s ‘football god’ Mats Hummels: Why has the best player in this season’s Champions League been left out of Germany’s Euro 2024 squad?

When the draw for the group stage was made last August, few pundits gave Dortmund a chance of reaching the knockouts. In fact, there were those that doubted that BVB would even manage to qualify for the Europa League – and such pessimism was understandable.

First of all, they’d placed in the ‘Group of Death’ alongside two state-sponsored clubs in Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle, as well as AC Milan, who had been semi-finalists the season before.

So, while Dortmund may have finished as runners-up in the 2022-23 Bundesliga, the devastating nature of their final-day collapse, which gifted the title to Bayern Munich, coupled with the loss of star player Jude Bellingham had many fans fearing the worst.

However, while Bellingham’s Real Madrid will feature in Saturday’s final at Wembley, so too will BVB – and Hummels is the main reason why.

Only once in the past 13 seasons has UEFA given its best player award to a defender (Virgil van Dijk, in 2019) but, no matter what happens in London this weekend, Hummels should claim this season’s prize. His numbers are frankly ridiculous, indicative of one of the finest individual campaigns the Champions League has ever seen.

Hummels has won more tackles (27) and duels (79), and made more interceptions (21) and clearances (62) than any other player in the competition, while he also ranks second for possession won (77).

And it’s not as if Hummels has just remained rooted in defence, heading and booting the ball away at every opportunity. Only four players have covered more ground that the veteran centre-back (120.1 kilometres).

It’s been about much more than pure numbers, though. Hummels’ performance in the crucial 3-1 win over Milan at San Siro on matchday five was astounding, and had Dortmund coach – and childhood fan – Edin Terzic comparing it to Jurgen Kohler’s masterclass against Manchester United during the club’s triumphant 1996-97 Champions League campaign.

“Mats played an incredible game tonight,” the BVB boss told reporters assembled at the Giuseppe Meazza. “There are certainly some people in this room who can remember Jurgen Kohler’s game in Manchester, after which he was called a football god. Well, I don’t think that Kohler’s performance back then was any better than Hummels’ performance tonight.”

Remarkably, even better was to come in the knockout stage.

Despite eliminating Atletico Madrid in the last eight, Dortmund were heavy underdogs in their semi-final showdown with Paris Saint-Germain, given little chance of keeping Kylian Mbappe & Co. quiet.

Incredibly, Terzic’s team progressed without conceding a single goal. The woodwork came to their rescue several times, but Hummels was the real saviour, combining brilliantly with central defensive partner Nico Schlotterbeck to make some of the most expensive attacking talent in the world look “average”, as former Manchester United and England star Rio Ferdinand put it. It was fitting, too, that the veteran scored the only goal in the second leg at Parc des Princes to book Dortmund’s place in the final.

Of course, that only makes it all the more surprising that Nagelsmann has elected to call upon Schlotterbeck for the Euros, rather than both members of Dortmund’s defensive duo.

Nagelsmann has made it abundantly clear that his first-choice pairing consists of Madrid’s Antonio Rudiger and Jonathan Tah of Bayer Leverkusen.

“Then,” the Germany coach told reporters, “it’s about who are the most suitable players behind them? What do the substitutes have to bring? What’s the age structure in the tournament and what happens afterwards?”

Hummels also revealed that his lack of first-team football after the winter break counted against him, clearly putting doubt in Nagelsmann’s mind as to whether he would prove durable enough for a notoriously intensive tournament played out over four weeks.

“If I understood him correctly,” Hummels told Bild Sport, “it was more about age-related issues like fitness. If I’d had a period like the one I had recently before [the friendly fixtures in] March, maybe I would have been called up – [and] for the European Championship squad as well.”

However, it’s also clear that there are other factors at play. Nagelsmann hinted at this himself when he brought up the fact that he and his coaching staff had spoken to nearly everyone connected with the national team to get their views on building the best possible squad.

“In the end, the crucial point is to be aware that every player has their own character,” he said. “You have to try to put together the 26 players by matching character traits to create a very good team. We got feedback from the kitchen chefs and physiotherapists on how the team works together. It was important to get the opinion of people who have been with us for ages. It was the way to measure the atmosphere, the working climate, the way we deal with each other and the way we deal with the staff.”

The implication, then, was obvious: if Hummels wasn’t going to be a starter, then including him could prove problematic.

Certainly, the way in which Hummels savagely criticised Dortmund’s style of play – and, in effect, Terzic, the man responsible for the team’s tactics – before the winter break only strengthened the belief that Hummels is as outspoken as they come and, therefore, not an easy man to manage.

However, even taking that aspect of his omission into account, the 2014 World Cup winner still found missing out on a home Euros unsurprisingly tough to take.

“I can understand the idea that a group has been growing since March,” Hummels told Bild Sport. “But it’s bitter for me as an individual because I have the self-confidence to say that I’m currently one of the five best defenders in Germany.”

Truth be told, he could have gone even further by pointing out that he’s been the best player in this season’s Champions League. And he’ll get another chance to hammer home that point on Saturday, too.