Germany head coach Hansi Flick faced the media following Tuesday's announcement that five players have been forced to self isolate after one of them tested positive for coronavirus. The news came as Germany prepare to welcome European minnows Liechtenstein to the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg for their penultimate World Cup qualifying game.

Fortunately for Flick, Germany have already confirmed their place at the top of Group J and became the first nation to qualify for Qatar 2022 after cruising to a 4-1 win against North Macedonia in October.

German boss explained: "We wanted to qualify for Qatar as quickly as possible, and we did that. And if you look at the current situation now (with Covid-19), then of course we are delighted that this (qualification) happened in October, particularly because of the hectic time we're having at the moment with all the absences. As I've said, five players have had to leave us because of coronavirus, and two more, Nico Schlotterbeck and Florian Wirtz, were already injured, so it was actually pretty clear that they wouldn't play, and then yesterday Julian Draxler was added (to the injury list), unfortunately."

Liechtenstein will be playing for pride only and have the odds stacked against them. Germany have beaten the small nation in all four previous meetings with an aggregate scoreline of 20 goals to two. About Germany's chances, the coach said: "You don't have to be hugely talented to defend well, but you have to be disciplined, you have to be physically fit, and you have to have passion. Liechtenstein have showed all of these attributes and I think they'll show them again tomorrow.  I hope we can use our scoring opportunities more efficiently and that then maybe more gaps will open up. But I can't promise a goal fest, that's not personally what I'm aiming for at all. While I always want to score as many goals as possible, the most important thing is to win the game, and that's our main aim."

Defender Niklas Suele is the player who has tested positive for coronavirus; he has been joined in isolation by Serge Ghabry, Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala and Karim Adeyemi.