Goetze is Germany’s Messi, Beckenbauer says

Football legend Franz Beckenbauer has hailed rising star Mario Goetze as Germany’s equivalent of Argentina’s Lionel Messi ahead of the Germans friendly against South American giants Brazil on Wednesday.

Goetze was lavished with praise over the weekend after playing a commanding role in Borussia Dortmund’s impressive 3-1 win over Hamburg on Friday as they opened their defence of the Bundesliga title.

Having set up team-mate Kevin Grosskreutz for the first goal, Goetze added the second with a deft chip and caused the Hamburg defence constant problems.

He is in the Germany squad to face Brazil in a friendly and arrived at the team hotel in Stuttgart yesterday as the hot topic.

The sport section Bild carried the eye-catching headline ‘Goetzlich’ (a play on words meaning ‘Divine’ in German) and Beckenbauer raved about the prodigal talent in his column in the German daily newspaper.

“It is not possible to stop Mario Goetze,” enthused Beckenbauer, who captained and coached the then West Germany to World Cup titles in 1974 and 1990 respectively.

“There is no one playing better than him. He runs through opponents as though they aren’t there.

“He has the same assets as Lionel Messi in terms of his technique and understanding of the game.”