That Maximilian Beier played only 26 minutes of Germany's 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign was criminal. After all, the player was coming off the back of a prolific season with Borussia Dortmund that yielded 10 goals and 10 assists each in all competitions.
Head coach Julian Naglesmann never really gave him a chance to fully express himself, sticking with Leroy Sane on the right wing over Beier, who also played just another 39 minutes across two pre-tournament friendlies against Finland and the USA.
Worse still, he's now been dropped entirely from the German squad for their upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures by new manager Jurgen Klopp for both his squads. Once again, it raises eyebrows as the player is otherwise having a good run this season too.
Prior to the match in Stuttgart, Beier had racked up three assists, quietly emerging as one of BVB's chief creators. He brilliantly controlled a long pass from Daniel Svensson on the left to tee up Giannis Konstantelias in their Hamburger win on the opening day of the Bundesliga season, before forcing an own goal from Renato Viega in their Champions League defeat of Villarreal; against Paderborn, he set up Nmecha with a lovely one-two, receiving the ball under pressure and then quickly laying it back to him.
Every single one of these interventions has demonstrated the range of talents that Beier carries: a technically brilliant player with superb ball-control and peak anticipation. Oh, and did I mention he's also cool as a cucumber under pressure?
Give him space, and he will make you pay. Keep him under wraps, and he'd still find a hole within it to create something. And if that wasn't enough, he will pop up with a match-winner when his side is desperately craving for it.
Away to brawny Stuttgart on Saturday, the BVB were struggling to click in the attack as their winning streak was just about 20 minutes away from ending with the scoreline still deadlocked at 0-0. But cometh the hour, cometh Maximilian Beier.
Substitutes Konstantinos Karetsas and Jobe Bellingham combined to exploit the gaps between Stuttgart's lines. Bellingham then drifted a pass inside the box for Beier to connect with, and tap home the goal that was enough to seal all three points on the day.
Just days after being overlooked in the German squad, the 24-year-old bags the winning goal in arguably Dortmund's toughest fixture of the season (after the Supercup game with Bayern Munich, of course).
In this first phase of the 2026-27 season (which now goes into a three-week long international break), Beier has easily been one of Dortmund's best players, a notion that was corroborated by his coach Niko Kovac after the game, who said:
"I’m thrilled for him, and it ultimately shows that we have a great squad and a great player in Maxi, and that he has rewarded himself with this goal today."
Add us as a preferred source on Google