July 4 – It should, on current form, be the showpiece final between the two best teams in the tournament.
But due to the vagaries of the Euro 24 draw, heavyweights Germany and Spain have been forced to clash in the last eight on Friday with the host nation hoping to end a winless run against their opponents that stretches back to 1988.
The Germans are enjoying their best international tournament in eight years and on the crest of a wave under their shrewd head coach Julian Nagelsmann but will have to be at their very best to get past a Spanish team that is the most exciting in the competition and are looking set a record of four Euro crowns as well as their first major men’s title in over a decade.
Spain, with four wins in four games, have cruised into the quarters with wingers Lamine Yamal, at 16 the youngest player ever to feature at the Euros, and Nico Williams quickly establishing a superb partnership that has terrorised opposing defences.
Whoever wins on Friday will be favourites to go all the way.
“We should not be hiding against Spain,” said German captain Ilkay Gundogan on the eve of the mouth-watering fixture. “As a team we can more than keep up with them. We also have extreme qualities. I think the Spaniards have more respect for us than they tend to admit in public.”
But history favours the Spaniards who won the 2010 World Cup semi-final between the two sides as well as the 2008 Euro final and haven’t lost to Germany in 26 years.
“I don’t want to offend anyone but we have the best team at this tournament,” said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente. “We are going to fight for it and we know what we have ahead of us, which is Germany. It is the well-known German machine. It will be a very close match, but we are very confident of our game.”
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