Mats Hummels 'bitter' to miss out on Euro 2024 to former Leeds United defender and co

The 78-times-capped World Cup winner who is expected to start Saturday's European Cup final against Real Madrid at Wembley has not taken his exclusion from Germany's provisional 27-man squad lying down.

One of those selected instead of the 35-year-old was Robin Koch, whose season-long loan to Eintracht Frankfurt from Leeds has been made permanent.

The versatile defensive player won the last of his eight caps in 2020, although he was in the squad for the March friendlies against France and Netherlands. Hummels missed those games through fitness concerns, but played in the October and November internationals.

Waldemar Anton, Antonio Rudiger, Jonathan Tah and Hummels' Borussia Dortmund partner Nico Schlotterbeck are the other centre-backs named.

“I can understand the idea that a group has been growing since March,” said Hummels. “It’s bitter for me as an individual because I’m currently one of the five best defenders in Germany. I have the self-confidence to say that.”

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Coach Julian Nagelsmann explained his decision to Hummels, but it does not seem to have helped much.

“If I understood him correctly, It was more about age-related issues like fitness," he told Bild. "If I’d had a phase like the one I had recently before (the games in) March, maybe I would have been called up (and) for the European Championship squad as well.”

Hummels played full games in the Champions League and Bundesliga football in the week before the March international break, scoring against Koch's Frankfurt. He has made 34 starts in all competitions.

He is out of contract after Saturday's final, but says retirement is his least likely option.

Nagelsmann must lose one player from his provisional squad on June 7, when final parties must be confirmed.