1/ Going to start the day with a thread about Leon Goretzka’s comments to Welt am Sonntag. As you may know, Goretzka is a socially engaged footballer. He & Bayern teammate Joshua Kimmich in the early phase of the pandemic started the “We Kick Corona” initiative.

2/ The goal was to help charities, welfare orgs & medical facilities. Both said as healthy, privileged footballers, they had a social responsibility to help others. Goretzka recently visited the Dachau concentration camp & has met with Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer.

3/ Goretzka has made known his criticism of far right activities in Germany & has received hostile comments from this small but loud part of the political spectrum, in particular the far right AfD (Alternative für Deutschland). In his interview, Goretzka said..

4/ “You have to fight against this in order to improve something. We must make it clear to everyone that we live in a democracy that nothing and no one can destroy. Hate commentary actually serves only to make me want to position myself even more clearly.”

5/ On the AfD. “When a party is supported and led by Holocaust revisionists & Corona deniers then they are unmasking themselves.”

6/ More on the AfD “In particular during the Corona crisis it has become clear what kind of party this is. For me it’s not an alternative, but in fact a disgrace for Germany.”

7/ This is well put. Goretzka “Fritz Walter (German legend) said all German national team players are foreign ministers in shorts. I like the expression. We footballers should use the attention we get to raise awareness of subjects like this.”

8/ On his meeting with Holocaust surivivor Margot Friedländer, Goretzka said it was the kind of moment that makes you “literally freeze.” He’s determined that “we must be the ones to make sure such a thing never happens again.”

9/ 2020 has been the year of the pandemic. But it has also been the year of people like Rashford and Goretzka who don’t “stick to football.” /ends