Troubled Germany target bounce-back win over Ronaldo's Portugal
Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 17.06.21. | 22:28
After the France defeat, the 2014 World Cup winners must do better against a strong Portugal team
Germany will aim to shut down Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday with the hosts under pressure to beat holders Portugal in order to get their Euro 2020 campaign back on track. After losing their opening game 1-0 to France on Tuesday after a Mats Hummels own goal, Germany badly need a win in Group F - and to stop Ronaldo adding to his phenomenal goal tally.
Leon Goretzka will definitely be back in the squad against Portugal and is even ready for the starting 11. He has completed extra training shifts over the past few days [@Plettigoal] pic.twitter.com/8qL9u3vP4l
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) June 17, 2021
The former Manchester United winger has now netted a record 11 goals at five European Championship finals after scoring twice in Portugal's 3-0 win over Hungary in Budapest. With 106 goals in 176 games for Portugal, he is three short of the all-time international record, set by Ali Daei who scored 109 goals for Iran between 1993 and 2006. The Juventus forward has never scored against Germany in four previous attempts, the most recent when Portugal were swept aside 4-0 at the 2014 World Cup.
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The Germans hope to deny him again at Munich's Allianz Arena, with centre-back Matthias Ginter the man likely to be marking the Portuguese superstar.
"I've already played against Ronaldo once or twice with Dortmund. He's still one of the best strikers in the world and has now scored two goals, so you have to be careful, but we're looking forward to playing against him. However, it would be a mistake to focus completely on Cristiano Ronaldo," added Ginter, with Portugal's Premier League trio of Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota and Bernardo Silva all also capable of winning games on their own."
Ronaldo and Ginter are no strangers after their 2016 Champions League duels (©AFP)Ginter says Germany are eager to raise the tempo and attack Portugal, as an analysis of the previous game showed the French "left us spaces, which we sometimes were too slow" to exploit. Joachim Loew's side are confident of turning things around.
"We have a great team and a lot of quality. It wasn't our worst game against France, but we can do more - and that's the good thing. We believe we can win on Saturday."
EURO 2020 - Group F
Saturday
16.00: Hungary - France
19.00: Portugal - Germany
