Hummels denies singling out Dortmund team-mates

Mats Hummels has denied singling out Borussia Dortmund team-mates for criticism following a 5-1 Bundesliga thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich.

The centre-back was furious with his side’s failure to implement their tactics in the crushing defeat away to Pep Guardiola’s side on Sunday – specifically their inability to counter long passes from Jerome Boateng, which led to two of Bayern’s goals.

Hummels, however, insisted he was not attempting to focus blame on individuals and accused the media of manipulating his comments.

“I am used to words being used in recent years so they fit into a headline,” he said ahead of Germany’s Euro 2016 qualifier away to the Republic of Ireland. 

“After the match against Bayern I didn’t use one word to criticise single players.

“I only talked about one tactical issue and I did not exclude myself from that. In fact, I said that [Robert] Lewandowski was quicker than Sven Bender and myself. But that hasn’t been written. Of course, it would not have been fitting for the story.”

Hummels went on to wish former Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp success ahead of a likely move to take charge at Liverpool.

“This won’t be a big surprise, but I consider him a great coach,” he said. 

“If you think about what could be his next step after Dortmund, the club that people are talking about at the moment is one that comes to mind.

“I am interested in what he does next. I will keep my fingers crossed for him to have similar success to what we had with Dortmund.”

The 26-year-old also hailed Germany centre-back partner Boateng ahead of the world champions’ meeting with Ireland, in which they can guarantee their place at Euro 2016 with a draw.

“Boateng is one of the best centre-backs in the world. Maybe you could even go a step higher with that quote, but I don’t watch other players regularly enough.

“I am a big fan of Jerome and the way he plays. He improves every team he plays in.”