Germany slip to opening defeat against France
Germany suffered a 1-0 defeat to France in their Euro 2020 opener.
| Joachim Löw and Germany lost their opening game at the Euros to France. | Photo: Granada, CC-by-SA 4.0 |
Löw kept faith in the team that thrashed Latvia 7-1 in the last warm-up friendly, lining up in a 3-4-3 with Joshua Kimmich operating as a right wing-back.
France created the first real chance in the 16th minute when Paul Pogba headed over from Antoine Griezmann's corner.
Just a minute later, Kylian Mbappé forced Manuel Neuer into the first save of the game with a low shot that the Germany captain pushed out for a corner.
Then, with 20 minutes on the clock, 'Les Bleus' grabbed the opener thanks to a German boot. After being wonderfully picked out by Pogba on the left, Lucas Hernandez sent in a hard cross that Mats Hummels diverted into his own net.
Germany looked for an instant response, and it nearly came a few minutes later when Thomas Müller headed wide after a Robin Gosens cross found him all alone in the box.
In a first half of few clear-cut chances, Serge Gnabry created a promising opportunity for Ilkay Gündogan seven minutes before the break, but the Manchester City midfielder fired wide from 12 yards out.
France could have added a second in the beginning of the second half, but Adrien Rabiot hit the outside of the post after latching on to Kylian Mbappé's pass into the box.
Germany then took control of the game for a while and created a number of dangerous situations within a few minutes.
First, a shot from Serge Gnabry went just over the crossbar, and then a looping Joshua Kimmich cross travelled to the back post, where Robin Gosens ended up committing a foul on Benjamin Pavard in an attempt to get to the ball.
With 66 minutes played, France had the ball in the net again. Mbappé picked up a pass on the left, cut inside and found the far corner, but the goal didn't count as he was adjudged to have been offside in the build-up.
France threatened on the counter, and the lightning-quick Kylian Mbappé almost got the better of Mats Hummels in the 77th minute, but the Borussia Dortmund defender managed to win back the ball with a vital last-ditch tackle.
With around five minutes remaining, France thought they had killed the game off when Karim Benzema slotted into the net after a cross from Mbappé, but the goal was ruled out after a VAR review as the latter was adjudged to be offside.
Despite six minutes of added time, Germany couldn't find their way through as France held them at bay to claim all three points.
In the other game in Group F, Portugal beat Hungary 3-0 earlier tonight thanks to three late goals.