In the past, there has been a notable difference in the Mesut Ozil who plays for Arsenal and the one who turns up for Germany.

The midfielder is seen as somewhat of a talisman for his national team, but he is often accused of going missing in big games while wearing an Arsenal shirt.

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One could argue that Ozil tends to have more of a free reign to roam when he plays for his country, while at the Emirates he is sometimes position in a wider role.

On Sunday, the 29-year-old was named in the starting XI that faced Mexico in Germany's opening Group F fixture at Russia 2018.

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The reigning world champions are one of the tournament favourites on sites like www.perfectbettingonline.co.uk, but it was a disappointing start for Joachim Low's side as they were beaten 1-0 by a pacy counter-attacking Mexico team.

Ozil started the fixture well as he created some key passes, but as the clock ticked by, he became more and more ineffective.

Mesut Ozil stats v Mexico

In an attacking sense, the midfielder, who recently recovered from a knee injury, failed to make an impact as he did not register a single shot on target and only produced one accurate cross into the danger area.

Only Joshua Kimmich, Jerome Boateng and Toni Kroos saw more of the ball than Ozil, but aside from a few decent passages of play, the ex-Real Madrid star was quiet.

New Arsenal manager Unai Emery would have had a close eye on the midfielder, and he will certainly be hoping that his star man improves as the tournament continues.