Paying it Forward: Ball boy who played a hand in Germany’s 2nd goal vs. Italy promised a ticket to Portugal clash

The ball boy the helped Germany score on their quickly taken corner has been given a thoughtful gift by the DFB.

Germany’s two halves against Italy in the second leg of the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals in Dortmund were night and day from one another. Carrying on from their 2-1 win in Milan from the first leg thanks to goals from Tim Kleindienst and Leon Goretzka, Die Mannschaft powered through to a 3-0 lead in the first half in Dortmund and Julian Nagelsmann’s side looked like they were going to go on and completely embarrass Italy.

However, that was not the case and a spirited second half fight back from the Italians saw the match finish 3-3, though Germany still progressed to the semifinals 5-4 on overall aggregate. While the mood might have been a bit dampened by Italy’s 3 unanswered goals in the second half, there has been a bit of a bright spot in connection with Germany’s second goal from the night, which came in the form of a quickly taken corner from Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich that found Jamal Musiala wind open, catching Italy completely off guard.

Ball boy Noel Urbaniack was given credit for the role he played in quickly distributing a ball to Kimmich for the quickly taken corner that caught the Italians out, incredibly similar to the famous corner kick Trent Alexander-Arnold took to Divock Origi for Liverpool in their 4-0 Champions League win over Barcelona at Anfield back in 2019.

As a show of appreciation from the DFB, Rudi Völler has promised Noel a free ticket to the Nations League semifinal match between Germany and Portugal, which is set to take place this summer in Germany. (via @iMiaSanMia). After the draw with Italy, Kimmich had also signed a match ball and gave it to Noel as a show of appreciation, bearing remanence to Jose Mourinho personally inviting a ball boy for a training session and team meal after his quick help in Tottenham’s Champions League win over Olympiakos back in 2019.

For Noel, it will be the experience of a lifetime, and who knows – maybe he will eventually get a call-up to be a Bayern ball boy at the Allianz Arena!

Looking for final thoughts and analysis of Germany’s UEFA Nations League quarterfinal tie vs. Italy? What about an update on where things stand as Bayern Munich ramps back up — and the latest news on Florian Wirta and his potential move to Bayern? Awesome, then we have you covered with the latest edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works Show, which is available on Patreon, Spotify, or below:

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