Germany will host Ukraine in a friendly game before the Euro 2024 campaign kick-starts, as this has the hallmarks of a competitive contest.
Julian Nagelsmann will only have a little time and space to rest his setup ahead of his nation hosting the latest edition of the Euros. Germany, who face Ukraine on Monday, recently improved their performance under the former Bayern Munich manager. But Nagelsmann will still need to see before making the final cut of his 26-man squad for the finals.
Germany are coming into this friendly clash with Ukraine on the back of non-competitive wins over France and the Netherlands, with those two games offering an insight into how Nagelsmann would love to play with the players available at his disposal. The Ukraine clash may be called a friendly on paper; it is anything but that, as both teams will want to put in a competitive display to sharpen their edges.
Moreover, Nagelsmann will want his players to treat this game as a serious fixture, as Germany have yet to play a competitive game. At the same time, their rivals have in the qualifiers. Germany are the hosts of Euro 2024. Hence there is added pressure to enter the tournament’s opening game against Scotland with confidence, and a win over Ukraine will be crucial for them and their manager.
While Germany did not have to play a single competitive game to reach the finals, Ukraine had to take the longest route available to get there. Serhiy Rebrov’s had to beat Iceland in the play-offs to reach the group stages, and they will now play their first of the three friendly games before the Euros kick start.
Like all of his counterparts, the manager will be thinking about putting in a strong performance and probably gauging what his players can bring to the table. In truth, these pre-tournament friendlies are not what they seem. There will be an air of competitiveness about them, as teams like Ukraine will want to use this time to sharpen their edges and get into the main finals in confident form.
Team News & Tactics
Germany
Julian Nagelsmann has named a strong provisional squad for the main tournament and will take notice of some of the players he could exclude from the final sheet. A few notable names are missing missing from this game against Ukraine, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen among those, with the Barcelona star joining up on Monday.
Meanwhile, the participants of the UEFA Champions League final included many German national team stars, including Antonio Rudiger, Nico Schlotterbeck, Toni Kroos, and Niclas Fullkrug. Despite those absentees, Nagelsmann will still have a strong set of players to choose from, including Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane, and Kai Havertz, with the trio set for starts.
The idea here would be to use all players of the squad to give them sufficient minutes for the manager to gauge their performances. In the end, the displays of these players will have a significant effect on the manager selecting his final-26.
Other players expected to start include Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz, Joshua Kimmich, and Maximilian Mittelstadt at left-back. The latter is set for his third cap in German colours.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Kimmich, Tah, Koch, Mittelstadt; Gundogan, Andrich; Sane, Musiala, Wirtz; Havertz
Ukraine
Much like those Germans who took part in the UEFA Champions League final, Ukraine will miss Andry Lunin from this contest. Otherwise, the visitors will have a full complement of players available for selection, as Oleksandr Zinchenko and Mykhailo Mudryk are heading the squad for this friendly game as well as the Euros.
Some other notable stars, like Girona pair Artem Dovbyk and Viktor Tsyhankov, are also in the reckoning for a big tournament in the summer. Overall, Rebrov will have a competitive set of players to choose from for the friendly against Germany.
Zinchenko will headline the Ukraine midfield alongside Ruslan Malinovskyi and Heorhiy Sudakov, while Vitaliy Mykolenko will be the starting left-back for Serhiy Rebrov’s system. In anticipation, Ukraine may have one of the most exciting front-three setups, with the likes of Mudryk, Tsyhankov and Dovbyk all set to feature strongly throughout the summer.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Bushchan; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Malinovskyi, Zinchenko, Sudakov; Tsyhankov, Dovbyk, Mudryk
Key Stats
- Germany have won their last two games in all competitions
- Germany are unbeaten in their previous six games against Ukraine in all formats.
- Ukraine are on a run of five unbeaten games, winning four of those.
- Ukraine has never beaten Germany on the international stage.
Player to Watch
Kai Havertz
The Arsenal man is coming into this tournament on the back of stellar form at the club level, something Julian Nagelsmann would want to be reflected on the international stage. While Havertz looks set to begin the Euros as German’s preferred choice at No.9, he will have these two friendlies to prove the manager’s choice is the right one.
Havertz is critical to Nagelsmann’s plan for his squad, as his clinical form in front of goal and his hold-up play will be crucial to Germany. Hence, while there are many top stars in this German squad, the Arsenal utility man will have all eyes on him during the tournament. He must put in a top-notch performance against Ukraine to finally cement his place ahead of the tournament opener.
Prediction
Germany 2-1 Ukraine
Despite this game being friendly on paper, both teams will want to put up a competitive performance to build confidence and momentum within their respective squads. Ukraine cannot be neglected like before, as they have a competitive squad at their disposal that is good enough to hurt even the biggest of teams, including Germany.
Julian Nagelsmann will rely on his squad quality to win in this friendly clash against Ukraine. He has plenty of firepower and bench depth to get things right. Hence, Germany is the favourite to take three points on home soil, as they will look to build momentum before the main tournament begins.