German legend, Oliver Bierhoff is of the opinion that the decision of Arsenal midfielder, Mesut Ozil and Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan to meet and take pictures with Turkey president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London a few weeks ago will cause unnecessary distractions for the team in Russia.
Both Ozil and Gundogan were born in Germany but their parent are from Turkey and both players are proud of their Turkish heritage despite representing Germany. However, Bierhoff stated that their action was poorly timed, stressing that it may lead to them being dropped by the coach.
“Jogi Low does not make any populist decisions just to satisfy someone, he rather looks at the sporting side of things. But the scandal could as well be a small aspect in the decision-making process,” Bierhoff said.