Showdown at the 2024 European Football Championship: The German national team will face Spain in the quarter-finals on Friday. National coach Julian Nagelsmann does not want to reveal his line-up yet. Spanish taunts roll off him.
“In general, that doesn’t affect me much,” said the national coach about the taunts from top favorite Spain before the anticipated European Championship quarter-final, stressing: “I want to talk less and show in the game what our goals are!”
Spain striker Joselu had previously announced that he wanted to send Toni Kroos into retirement in the quarter-finals. Playmaker Pedri took a dig at DFB defender Antonio Rüdiger. “He is a powerful central defender and very good, but you don’t have to be afraid of him,” said the 21-year-old from FC Barcelona on “Radio Marca”.
“We will do everything we can to advance,” promised Nagelsmann before the duel between the best teams in the tournament so far.
Will Musiala also score against Spain?
Ilkay Gündogan and Jamal Musiala are likely to be the attacking stars. The latter has already scored three goals and leads the European Championship goal scorers list together with Ivan Schranz (Slovakia), Georges Mikautadze (Georgia) and Cody Gakpo (Netherlands).
Nagelsmann wants to answer the final questions about the line-up on match day. Whether Leroy Sane or Florian Wirtz will start in attack, “I can answer this question, but I don’t want to answer it,” he said, adding: “We still have one or two question marks.”
Gündogan sees DFB team prepared for Spain
One thing seems clear: Jonathan Tah will replace Nico Schlotterbeck in the team after his yellow card suspension has expired, David Raum could play on the left for Maximilian Mittelstädt, and he could face child prodigy Lamine Yamal.
Nagelsmann referred to the youthfulness of the 16-year-old and said: “If things get tough – let’s see how he reacts.” In general, however, his focus is “less on Yamal, but on Jamal” Musiala. In other words: his team must seek salvation in the offensive.
The DFB team feels “prepared” for top favorite Spain, said captain Ilkay Gündogan, adding that they are prepared for a match on equal terms. “There is no reason not to go into the game confidently.”
2024-07-04 15:39:00
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