Germany coach Joachim Low praised the attitude of Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker after dropping him for their World Cup quarterfinal win over France.
Low revealed that he had spoken to Mertesacker on Friday night to explain why he was being dropped to allow for Hummels' inclusion - the Arsenal defender has long been a stalwart member of his teams.
He said: "Per is very important player for us and I spoke to him last night and explained, and he had a marvellous attitude and said 'I just want to help the team'.
"I chose Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels for tactical reasons - we had seen France's players Valbuena and Griezmann attack with great speed and I thought I would be able to solve that problem."
