European Championship hosts France are
looking to beat World Cup holders Germany in a major tournament for the
first time in 58 years.
Germany have triumphed in three World Cup encounters within that time, the last in the 2014 quarter-finals.
Their most famous meeting was the 1982
semi-final when France’s Patrick Battiston had to be revived by medics
on the pitch after a brutal clash with German goalkeeper Harald
Schumacher.
Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer, the most
miserly goalkeeper in the tournament, and Atletico Madrid striker
Griezmann as leading scorer could hold the key to their latest encounter
however.
Griezmann scored two of his four goals in France’s impressive 5-2 quarter-final win over Iceland.
Neuer has conceded only one goal in
regulation time in five games – a spot-kick against Italy in the
quarter-finals, a tie Germany won on penalties.
“We need to score goals. This is a team that doesn’t concede a lot of goals,” said France coach Didier Deschamps.
“Everyone talks about their attack, but they know how to defend,” he added.
Loew is aware of the French threat.
“We are going to have to be compact and close down the space in defence,” he said.
“France are going to be the toughest opponents we have had in the tournament until now.”
Deschamps has no injury problems and
welcomes back midfielder N’Golo Kante and defender Adil Rami to contend
for places after both served suspensions against Iceland.
With many French fans looking back to
the 1982 battle, Deschamps said, “We can’t change past history, but
we’ve got our own page to write.”
Apart from the return of Schweinsteiger, Loew gave no other team details and he faces tough choices.
Centre-back Mats Hummels picked up a
yellow card and is suspended. Striker Mario Gomez and midfielder Sami
Khedira picked up injuries which ruled them out and made
Schweinsteiger’s presence even more essential.
Bayern man Thomas Mueller, normally a regular source of goals for Germany, has yet to score at the tournament.
But Mueller said reaching the final and
getting a chance to add the Euro trophy to the World Cup title won in
2014 is all that matters.
“Reaching that goal is what drives me
on. I haven’t had that many chances here and the ones I have missed were
by a matter of centimetres.
“I’m not driving myself crazy about it,” he said.
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