A NEW LOW

Portugal primed to leave Germans’ Euro dreams in tatters

GERMANY’S group-stage exit at the 2018 World Cup came as a massive surprise but there was always a possibility of them struggling at Euro 2020 and their hopes of progression could be left in the balance with defeat to Portugal in Munich.

Playing all three group stage games on home soil should be an advantage to the Germans, who are the most successful team in European Championship history with three tournament successes and six final appearances. But they were unfortunate to be drawn in the toughest group alongside both Euro 2016 finalists, and a stern task became even harder after their 1-0 loss to France on Monday.

Joachim Low’s side had some decent spells against the French and could take some comfort from the match statistics – they won the shot count and carved out a 62 per cent share of possession. However, they failed to seriously test France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and always looked at risk of being exposed on the counter.

France were happy to sit deep after Mats Hummels’ 20th-minute own goal, content to nullify predictable German attacks and confident in their ability to spring forward whenever their opponent looked over-stretched.

They had two second-half goals ruled out for offside and their performance will probably serve as a template for Portugal, who are capable of playing in a very similar way.

Portugal are another team who like to stay compact in defence with athletic holding midfielders Danilo and William Carvalho protecting a back four anchored by the imperious Ruben Dias.

And they have the ability to spring forward at a moment’s notice thanks to the creativity of Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes, coupled with the pace and movement of Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Jota.

Ronaldo stole the show in their 3-0 success over Hungary with two goals, taking his international tally to 106, only three short of Ali Daei’s all-time record.

Jota was less at ease as he adjusted to life on the biggest stage but the experience will have done him good and his energy and speed mark him down as a big threat to Germany’s three-man defence.

Germany will be aware of the threat on transitions but their risk-taking, possession-based approach is unlikely to be changed in the final throes of Low’s tenure and its weaknesses could be exposed by a Portugal side mounting a strong defence of their crown.