Anthony Elanga responds as Newcastle United’s Malick Thiaw ends two-year wait for fourth Germany cap

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Newcastle United defender Malick Thiaw made his return from the international wilderness for Germany on Friday night and Anthony Elanga was pleased. 

Thiaw came off the bench as Nick Woltemade scored twice to seal Germany’s win over Luxembourg.

It was the 24-year-old’s first game for his country since a 2-2 draw with Mexico in October 2023 and his fourth cap in total.

Thiaw has been rewarded for his brilliant Newcastle United form during a season in which many of the club’s other new signings such as Elanga have struggled.  

With Germany now just one win away from the World Cup, Thiaw has returned to the fold at the best possible time.

After the win, Thiaw posted on Instagram.

• READ MORE: Malick Thiaw opens up on whether he made the right decision to join Newcastle United

Malick Thiaw celebrates three points as Germany edge closer to the World Cup

Beating Luxembourg isn’t going to move the needle an awful lot in Germany but the context is important.

Woltemade is the one who stepped up in an otherwise fairly poor German performance and his goals mean they face a winner-takes-all clash with Slovakia on Monday night.

With the Germans at home for that game, they will now be favourites to qualify. Woltemade’s goals were hugely important in that respect.

Thiaw played in the final stages of the game and posted a collage of images from the contest captioned: “+3 @dfb_team”.

Newcastle teammate Elanga was among those to respond by writing: “Thiiiiiiaawwwww.”

How Malick Thiaw played for Germany vs Luxembourg

Thiaw only appeared in the dying embers of the game Germany were largely dominating.

Still, and while the context of the game does have to be taken into account, he hardly put a foot wrong.

As per FotMob data, Thiaw found the mark with 13/14 of his passes, with three of those breaking the lines and finding their way into Luxembourg’s final third. 

Defensively, he made a tackle and three ball recoveries while also winning his only ground duel.

Thiaw has been one of Newcastle’s best players this season and it’s brilliant to see him rewarded by his country.