When Germany plays Spain, it always feels like a meeting of two football superpowers, but Friday’s quarter-final of the 2024 European Championship is particularly exciting due to the strong performances of both teams.
There is a lot of talk here in Germany about this being an early final between the two best teams in the tournament, and from what I have seen, I agree.
We really believe we can beat them too. Our fans have a lot of respect for the Spanish team and even the German players know they are excellent. But that is balanced out by the fact that we are the hosts and also by our own performance so far.
In terms of mentality and quality, it seems to be a pretty even match. I don’t think either side will be afraid of the other and it will be exciting to see how the duel turns out.
“Don’t give Spain the ball”
Finding the right balance on the pitch will also be crucial.
Germany are not a team like Georgia or some of the other teams Spain have played against, who only had around 30-40% possession and spent most of their time defending in their own half and trying to attack on the counterattack.
If we want to win, we have to do more than just defend well. We have to show our quality in possession and not give the ball away carelessly, because that is what Spain wants.
They want the ball. The less they have it, the better it is for us.
Our players need to be prepared to run a lot when they have the ball and they need to be physical as well. That could be one of the areas where we can have an advantage, another is set pieces.
It may sound old-fashioned, but I don’t think we’ve made enough of free kicks and corners so far in this tournament, and even if we don’t get many of them on Friday, we have to make the most of them.
In our win against Denmark in the round of 16, Nico Schlotterbeck had a few headers and scored a goal that was disallowed. I hope we can do that again.
Hard work must be done on the wings
The way Spain have played in recent years, at least when I have played against them, you usually think of them as a team that keeps possession of the ball and keeps it in midfield.
Now the situation is somewhat different, as the two young wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams have brought a new element to the team.
Spain remains strong with Rodri, Fabian Ruiz and Pedri in the center and can play the possession game very effectively.
Now, however, you have to worry about them coming out, because Yamal and Williams love to mess with other players and they are very good at it.
If, for example, Joshua Kimmich is unprotected on the right German wing and faces Williams alone, it will be very difficult for him.
So whoever is in front of Kimmich – be it Leroy Sane or Florian Wirtz – must try to play two-on-one when Spain has the ball in order to take away that space from Williams.
Do not underestimate Germany
In Spain’s last game, Georgia managed to assert themselves on the pitch at times despite the pressure. Germany must learn from this.
Sane or Wirtz not only have to support Kimmich, but also take on this part. Jamal Musiala will also play a key role. Together they have to ensure that we do not lose the ball immediately when Germany wins it back, when Spain puts us under pressure.
Spain don’t make many mistakes and it’s inevitable that they will get chances, but if we work hard, I think we will get opportunities too.
Georgia showed what is possible and overall I am more optimistic than nervous. If Spain shows up and plays their best game it will be difficult for us but I would not underestimate the German team either.
This is a completely different scenario to the last time we faced Spain at a European Championship, when they beat us in the final of Euro 2008.
Image source, Getty Images
I played in that game and we knew beforehand that they were probably better than us, but we felt like we had the upper hand with our mentality.
Up until this tournament they had produced some great players and played good football at times, but they had not won anything for many years.
They really changed that with their incredible winning streak between 2008 and 2012 and even though they are a new team, they have been bred to win things and see things through to the end.
Two teams with similar style
Image source, Getty Images
However, German football is also different today – in a positive sense.
That Spanish team was actually a kind of role model for the way we play today, because we want to keep the ball and if we lose it, we want to win it back.
So instead of being two teams with completely different playing styles like in my time, Germany and Spain are now quite similar.
Viewed individually, player by player, Spain may already be a little further ahead than us, but Luis de la Fuente has been in office since December 2022, while national coach Julian Nagelsmann has only been in office for around nine months.
Just because Spain are a little ahead of us in that respect doesn’t mean they’re automatically going to win the game, and I don’t think our recent record against them is relevant either.
Germany has not beaten Spain in a major tournament for 36 years, since Euro 1988 when we were also hosts. However, this game has nothing to do with the past encounters and as a player you always think that such winning streaks have to end at some point.
I may be sitting in the commentary box in Stuttgart on Friday and not on the pitch, but I still feel the same way and I just hope that this is the day when we write our own piece of history.
Thomas Hitzlsperger spoke to Chris Bevan from BBC Sport in Germany.
