German football is different now too, however, and in a good way.
That Spain team was actually kind of the role model for how we play now because we want to have possession and, when we lose the ball, we want to win it back.
So, rather than two teams with very different playing styles as it was in my day, Germany and Spain are now quite similar.
Individually, player by player, Spain are possibly a little further along the road than we are, but then Luis de la Fuente has been in charge since December 2022 while for Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann it is only around nine months.
Just because Spain are a little bit of us ahead like that, it does not mean they will automatically go on and win this game, and I don’t think our recent record against them is relevant either.
Germany have not beaten Spain at a major tournament for 36 years, since Euro ’88 when we were also hosts, but this game has nothing to do with those past meetings and as a player you always think that those runs have to end at some point.
I am in the commentary box rather than on the pitch in Stuttgart on Friday but I still feel the same way and I am just hoping it is the day where we make our own bit of history.
Thomas Hitzlsperger was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan in Germany.
2024-07-04 21:29:59
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