France and Italy square off in the second semi-final of the UEFA Euro 2016 at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille to book a place in the final against Portugal – who beat Wales in the first semi-final. Les Blues come into the match on the back of their 5-2 annihilation of underdogs Iceland, while Die Mannschaft secured a nervy penalty shootout win over Italy to progress to the semis.
Antoine Griezmann leads the tournament's goal-scoring charts having scored 4 goals so far in the tournament. His teammates Olivier Giroud and Dimitri Payet also find themselves in the top five with three goals apiece. On the other hand, Germany have the best defensive record of all teams in the tournament, having conceded a solitary goal in the game against Italy.
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The encounter between one of the favourites and the hosts is expected to be one of the best games of the tournament, with both teams not known for having an inhibited attitude towards the game.
Speaking ahead of the game, Joachim Low praised the attack of France and also highlighted the goal-scoring threat of Les Blues’ front three. He said: “In attack, France have been very flexible, which creates a lot of pressure – not just in the penalty area but also in midfield with [Paul] Pogba and [Blaise] Matuidi. They take their chances and they have three strikers at the top of the goal rankings. They'll attack very aggressively; they're the hosts and their attack has been very good – it's been their strength so far.”
France head coach Didier Deschamps warned the Germans that his side will not be sitting back absorbing the pressure, but will try to assert their dominance of the game. He said: “Germany are always used to dominating the opposition, hogging the ball, but we can't think about simply defending and trying to catch them out. We just have to play to the best of our ability. Germany are the world champions and they've given the best impression here over the first five matches.”
Live Stream and Kick-off time
The match will be live from 00:30 IST (Sunday), 20:00 BST (Saturday). Watch live streaming of Germany vs France on SonyLIV. Follow Germany vs France, Euro 2016 Live Score and Commentary with Sportskeeda. The match will be telecasted live on Sony Six and Sony Six HD in India, Fox Sports in the USA and Premier Sports in the UK. The match will be played at the Stade de Bordeaux in Bordeaux.
Team News
Low has confirmed that Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who picked a knock to his knee in the game against Italy, will start tonight’s crunch encounter. However, Die Mannschaft are without the services of Mats Hummels, Sami Khedira and Mario Gomez due to suspension and injuries.
In his pre-match press conference, he said: “Schweinsteiger trained this morning at 100%. He's very important for us in a game like this – mainly because of his experience. He will be in the starting XI; I said from the beginning that if he could take part in the last training session, he would play. We have to replace Hummels, Khedira and Gomez and that's not easy, so Schweinsteiger's experience is even more important.”
Adil Rami has served his suspension and is expected to return to the starting line-up in place of Samuel Umtiti, who had a decent outing in the game against Iceland. Leicester City midfielder N’Golo Kante has also served his suspension and will start instead of Moussa Sissoko.
Probable Line-Ups
Germany: Neuer; Kimmich, Boateng, Höwedes, Hector; Kroos, Schweinsteiger; Draxler, Özil, Götze; Müller.
France: Lloris; Sagna, Rami, Koscielny, Evra; Pogba, Matuidi; Kante, Griezmann, Payet; Giroud.
Form guide (Most recent first)
Both the teams are unbeaten in their last five encounters and have played out a draw each. Germany’s draw came in the game against Poland, while Les Blues drew their game against Switzerland.
Germany: WWWDW
France: WWDWW
Head to Head record
This will be the fifth encounter between Germany and France at a major tournament, but their first in the European Championship.
France won the first meeting at a World Cup (in 1958) whilst Germany came out on top in the next three (in 1982, 1986 and 2014).
Germany and France have won 36% of the European Championship finals (five out of 14). They are the top two scorers in the history of the tournament (72 goals for Germany, 60 for France).
Alain Giresse is the last French player to score against Germany at a major tournament, at the 1982 World Cup semi-final.
They last met in November 2015 - France won 2-0 in a match marred by the Paris attacks.
France have never kept a clean sheet in their four meetings with Germany at major tournaments.
Match Prediction
In what will be a free-flowing game of football, with both sides trying to assert their dominance on the pitch. Germany are without a few key players and it would be interesting to see how they cope up with the extra pressure of being pitted against the hosts. We predict a 2-1 win for France.
