Reigning World Champions France will begin their journey of conquering Europe this Tuesday when they play fellow World Cup winners and Euro hopefuls Germany.
Stadium: Allianz Arena (Munich)
Key Statistics
France are unbeaten in their last seven matches (W6, D1). They are currently on a four game-winning run without conceding a goal. France striker Antoine Griezmann has scored more goals against Germany than any other nation (four in six meetings),
Germany have won three of their last six games. They are winless in five meetings with Franc. İlkay Gündoğan has found the net in three of Germany’s previous five international matches.
Head to Head
France 14 wins; 8 draws; Germany 9 wins; France scored 49 goals against 46 by France (in total 31 matches)
Latest performance
France: WDWWWW (Goals for 14, Goals against 3)
Germany: LWWLDW (Goals for 13, Goals against 10)
France
After a bitter ending to their European Championship campaign in 2016, France are back in Europe this summer looking to go one better than they did last time out.
But they have to qualify through a tough group that also includes Portugal and Hungary apart from Germany, meaning that it would not be easy to become World Cup and European champions at the same.
A loss to Germany will jeopardise that chance, and they will be looking to avoid such a result when they travel to Munich.
Les Bleus are the favourites for this year’s trophy and are entering into this tournament on a good run of form, having taken six wins from their last seven games.
In that period, they only conceded three goals and two or more goals in four of those matches. A potent attack is the foundation of Didier Deschamps’s team, and they have been scoring goals for fun since their World Cup triumph in 2018.
Since that time, they have played 30 times and have only failed to score on five occasions.
A good head-to-head record against their counterparts means that they will fancy their chances of picking up a win here.
Possible line-ups
France have no injury cases and are expected to field their strongest line-up.
Hugo Lloris; Benjamin Pavard, Raphael Varane, Presnel Kimpembe, Lucas Hernandez; N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Adrien Rabiot; Antoine Griezmann; Kylian Mbappe, Karim Benzema.
Germany
After their 2018 World Cup humiliation, Germany are looking to redeem a tarnished international image and also pick up their first trophy since their World Cup triumph in 2014.
But they have been put in a difficult group and must overcome defending champions Portugal and World ChampionsFrance to stand any chance of avoiding further humiliation for a second major tournament running.
Joachim Low, who will be leading Germany out for the last time in a major tournament, is also looking to end his reign as Germany boss on a bright note.
After overturning an embarrassing run of form that saw his side lose two times in five games—including a 2-1 home loss to minnows North Macedonia in the World Cup qualifiers, the home team head into this tie on a bright note, after recording a 7-1 win over Latvia in their last outing.
A good sign of encouragement is also the fact that they have never lost their opening game in the European Championship, winning seven and drawing five times before.
Possible line-ups
Leon Goretzka, who is still working his way back from a muscle injury, is an injury doubt for this game.
Manuel Neuer; Matthias Ginter, Mats Hummels, Antonio Rudiger; Joshua Kimmich, Toni Kroos, Ilkay Gundogan, Robin Gosens; Kai Havertz, Thomas Muller; Serge Gnabry.
Betting Odds
France : Draw : Germany :: 35% : 31 % : 34%
| France Goal | Germany Goal | Betting Odds |
| 1 | 1 | 6.50 |
| 0 | 0 | 9.00 |
| 1 | 0 | 9.50 |
| 0 | 1 | 9.50 |
| 2 | 1 | 11.00 |
| 1 | 2 | 12.00 |
Prediction
France 3- 2 Germany
