Preview: Germany vs. Ukraine – prediction, team news, lineups – Sports Mole
Germany will play the first of their two pre-Euro 2024 friendlies on Monday evening, with fellow European Championship participants Ukraine their opponents at the Max-Morlock-Stadion.
The hosts will open their tournament against Scotland on June 14, while Ukraine’s first game at the summer competition comes against Romania on June 17.
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As hosts, there will certainly be pressure on Germany to perform at Euro 2024, and the national side will be bidding to improve on their showing at Euro 2020, when they were knocked out in the round of 16.
Germany were runners-up in 2008 before reaching the semi-finals in both 2012 and 2016, while their last success at the tournament came back in 1996.
DFB-Team will play in Group A this summer alongside Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland, and it would be a huge shock if they were unable to navigate their way through the section.
Julian Nagelsmann‘s side will enter this match off the back of successive friendly wins over France and the Netherlands, and they have not actually played a competitive game since their 4-2 success over Costa Rica in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup.
Whether their lack of recent competitive action harms them in Euro 2024 remains to be seen, but they will take on two strong sides in Ukraine and Greece in their two pre-tournament friendlies.
There is set to be a mixture of youth and experience on display for Germany this summer, and the tournament will prove to be Toni Kroos‘s final bow before he retires from professional football.
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Ukraine beat Iceland 2-1 in their playoff final back in March to secure their spot at Euro 2024, with the Blue and Yellows set to take part in a European Championship for the fourth time in succession.
The national side were knocked out in the group stage of the 2012 and 2016 tournaments, but they did make the quarter-finals at Euro 2020, which is their joint-best performance at a major competition, having also made the final eight of the World Cup back in 2006.
Serhiy Rebrov‘s side will actually play three friendlies ahead of Euro 2024, facing Germany, Poland and Moldova before their tournament opener against Romania on June 17.
Slovakia and Belgium are also present in what is shaping up to be a very open Group E, and a positive result in their opener with Romania would put Ukraine in a strong position to make the knockout round.
The Blue and Yellows will actually bring a five-game unbeaten run into this match, recording four wins in the process, but they have never beaten Germany in international football, losing five and drawing four of their nine previous encounters with the European giants.
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Germany will be missing Antonio Rudiger, Nico Schlotterbeck, Kroos and Niclas Fullkrug on Monday evening due to their involvement in the 2024 Champions League final, while Marc-Andre ter Stegen will also not feature, as he is not joining up with the squad until Monday.
However, head coach Nagelsmann is still expected to name a strong side, with Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane and Kai Havertz expected to be among the starters for the hosts.
Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz are also set to start, while there could be just a third German cap for Maximilian Mittelstadt at left-back.
As for Ukraine, Andriy Lunin will not be involved, as the 25-year-old was a part of the Real Madrid squad that won the Champions League final on Saturday night.
There will be no shortage of big names in the squad, though, with Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko and Chelsea’s Mykhaylo Mudryk among those set to start for the visitors.
Artem Dovbyk and Viktor Tsyhankov have also just come off excellent seasons for Girona in La Liga, and the pair are expected to be in the first XI for Ukraine in this contest.
Germany possible starting lineup:
Neuer; Kimmich, Tah, Koch, Mittelstadt; Gundogan, Andrich; Sane, Musiala, Wirtz; Havertz
Ukraine possible starting lineup:
Bushchan; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Malinovskyi, Zinchenko, Sudakov; Tsyhankov, Dovbyk, Mudryk
Ukraine will be tough opponents for Germany, with the Blue and Yellows having a lot of quality all across the pitch. Germany are looking in good shape ahead of Euro 2024, though, and we are expecting them to secure a win on Monday night.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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