Ilkay Gundogan believes his reappearance in a German shirt marks a change in the strained relationship with fans that followed his controversial meeting alongside Mesut Ozil with Turkish President Recep Erdogan.
Gundogan was whistled by a section of the Munich crowd when he came on as a second half substitute in Thursday's goalless draw against France but there was also enough backing to make the 27-year-old Manchester City midfielder feel a corner has been turned.
'I can go home with a smile,' said Gundogan. 'I was very pleased there was a lot of applause, I was able to respond and concentrate on the game from that moment.'
Team-mate Thomas Muller added: 'He has tried to put the situation behind him and played great.
'He presented himself well in the game showed he is going in a good direction. He identifies himself 100 percent (with the German team). Everybody saw that and we are going back to normality slowly.'
Gundogan and Ozil, both Germany internationals of Turkish origin, were heavily criticised for meeting Erdogan for a photo-opportunity in June shortly before the World Cup.
Germany's poor showing in Russia when they were eliminated from the group stages increased dissatisfaction among their fans and Ozil retired from international football after the tournament, claiming he'd been victimised because of his family's immigrant background.
aguntu
49
I thought that they said that there was nothing like misunderstanding in the team or within, shame to them for the way they treated Ozil.
Dkanko
40
going back to normality slowly means that things weren't okay...but every single person that came to respond to Ozil statement declared clearly that there was never any issue of any kind in the national team...makes you wonder what Muller is actually talking about