Racism Saga: Joachim Low Lifts Lid On Relationship With Mesut Ozil

German national team boss, Joachim Low has lifted lid on his relationship with Mesut Ozil following the midfielder’s decision to resign from international duties.

Ozil, who was part of the Die Mannescafht side that had a dismal outing at the last World Cup in Russia, decided to call it quit, citing racism as one of the major reasons for his decision to resign from international duties.

This came after the Arsenal midfielder was criticised for posing for a picture with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan alongside Ilkay Gundogan as they prepared for the World Cup turned out to be a poor outing for the Germans.

Ahead of their games against France and Peru, Joachim Low has revealed that Ozil has declined his efforts to reach out to him following his decision to leave the national team, he said:

‘We underestimated the influence of these pictures with Erdogan. My only thought was to prepare well for the World Cup,’ said Low.

‘Mesut Ozil did not even call me. His agent called me instead. I’ve tried to reach Mesut several times but we did not talk until this day. ‘We are disappointed with Ozil’s decision to retire but we have to accept that.

However, he was exaggerating a bit when it comes to racism. There was never a single attempt of racism or anything similar in our team.’

The German team manager Oliver Bierhoff added: ‘A national player cannot be a target of racist insults, we have to fight that. But we clearly can’t accept accusations. There was never any racism within the team. ‘We want to be closer to the players, even when they are not on international duty, including visiting them at home.’