With Matthias Ginter, Florian Neuhaus and Jonas Hofmann, Germany fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat against world champions France in their opening match of UEFA EURO 2020 on Tuesday night.
In front of 14,000 fans at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Matthias Ginter (photo: imago images/Sven Simon) started for Germany in the three-man backline alongside Mats Hummels and Antonio Rüdiger. Florian Neuhaus was on the bench for Joachim Löw’s team, while Jonas Hofmann was not in the matchday squad. Germany began the match with commitment but suffered an early setback, as Paul Pogba’s sublime pass found Lucas Hernández, who fired a low cross across the face of goal that Mats Hummels shinned into the back of his own net (20’).
Germany lacked attacking penetration after half time, while the French team comfortably controlled the tempo of the match. Didier Deschamps’ side had the ball in the back of the net twice more, but both were ruled out due to offsides. Ginter, who celebrated his European Championship debut in the match, was substituted shortly before the end of the game. Florian Neuhaus did not make an appearance. Germany’s second group stage match is against Portugal in Munich next Saturday at 18:00 CEST.
