Anatomy of a howler: Timo Werner's calamitous miss for Germany against North Macedonia

While many of us find ourselves rolling our eyes at the sight of an international break, for some players it can come as a welcome hiatus from club football.

Take Timo Werner, for example. He may have had a hand in a number of Chelsea's goals this season, but a measly return of five Premier League strikes in 28 outings has seen questions raised over the £47.5m man's future at Stamford Bridge.

But don't worry, Timo. Joachim Low clearly still had faith, naming him in the Germany squad for their March internationals and joining up with a side who hadn't lost a World Cup qualifier for nearly 20 years.

Yeahhhh...about that.

Die Mannschaft kicked off their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign in their usual imperious fashion, recording back-to-back wins against Iceland and Romania without conceding a goal.

Their final clash against North Macedonia looked the easiest of the lot on paper, but with the score locked at 1-1, Low summoned Werner from the bench and it was the Chelsea man's time to shine.

Then it came - his big moment. With ten minutes to play, Manchester City star Ilkay Gundogan broke free of the North Macedonia defence. Despite being in the goalscoring form of his life, the former Dortmund man picked his head up and opted to square it to Werner, affording the Blues forward the simple task of slotting home and handing his side the three points.

Cue the Benny Hill theme music.

Seriously, just how has he missed that?

It's the kind of finish you see on a Sunday morning down the local park, as big Dave - fresh from two hours sleep and three pre-match tactical pukes - slowly watches what he thinks to be about four footballs slowly rolling towards him before taking a swipe at the one most likely to be the actual ball.

In fairness to Werner, he's mastered the art of looking disappointed after messing up - lord knows he's had enough practice.

The way he sits on his haunches with his head down is absolutely textbook. Then to show the composure to maintain the stance for a good few seconds so to avoid the glare of his manager and teammates is utterly breathtaking. If you can't see them they're not there - we all know that Timo.

To make matters even worse, North Macedonia went on to grab an 85th-minute winner as Germany suffered defeat in a World Cup qualifier for the first time since England's 5-1 victory in Munich all the way back in September 2001.

When asked of the shocking miss after the game, Germany boss Low replied: "Timo normally has to do that," as reported by German news outlet Kicker.

We're not even sure what that means, but we think he's annoyed.