Germany captain Manuel Neuer backs Mesut Ozil’s decision to quit international football

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Manuel Neuer insists that the entire Germany squad are behind Mesut Ozil’s decision to quit international football on the back of what he called “racism and disrespect”.

The 29-year-old called time on his nine-year career with Die Mannschaft after accusing the German Football Association (DFB) of treating him with "racism and disrespect" over the issue of a photograph featuring the player alongside Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan which was taken before the World Cup.

The DFB has "emphatically rejected" Ozil's claims of racist treatment and while Gunners manager Emery did not take sides, he offered his support to the German as a member of his squad on a pre-season tour of Singapore.

And Neuer has revealed the rest of the squad have accepted Ozil’s decision and claimed that had Germany played well during the World Cup, then none of the nastiness aimed towards the Arsenal man would have happened.

Asked if he was disappointed by Ozil's decision, Neuer replied: “It's the decision of the player.

“If both of them [Ozil and Gundogan] or all of the players performed great at the World Cup we wouldn't stand here and talk about this,” he said.

“When another player is saying that he wants to [retire] it's his own decision. You have to search for the reasons on your own then and in that case, he has found them.

“We're accepting this decision of course. In the past other players had quit their career at the national team too after a tournament like the European Championship or the World Cup.”