Portugal – Germany

Portugal – Germany

Portugal against Germany is the big derby of the second round of Euro 2020’s group stage. These two European giants will face each other on Saturday at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Let’s preview it in these paragraphs that are about to follow.

Portugal started their Euro 2020 campaign with a bang when they rocked a 3-0 win against Hungary in their opening game. Their performance left the fans a bit worried, though – Selecao scored their three goals in the last seven minutes of the match. We saw some flaws in Portugal’s game, mainly in terms of creativity and creating danger. The head coach Fernando Santos has some work to do now.

What Portugal will need against the Mannschaft is more efficiency from their most creative players – Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva. These two playmakers must organise Selecao’s game, but they were poor against the Magyars.

Germany are not in a position to hold back because they lost their opening game against France. The veteran center-back Mats Hummels had the bad luck to score himself an own goal in the first half. We can’t say that Germany played badly, but they didn’t do enough to penetrate the French defense.

Joachim Low could make some changes in order to refresh his team for the next game. Germany started without a pure striker against France, so now Timo Werner could enter the scene. At the same time the speed demon Leroy Sane could be used to cause some havoc in the opponent’s defense. Leon Goretzka could return in team as well, but only if he’s fit to play.

That’s our preview for the Euro 2020 fixture between Portugal and Germany in the Bavarian capital. These two sides are in a very different position in this group, so let’s see how they are going to do. One thing is for sure – Germany can’t allow themselves to lose a second consecutive match.

Bayern Munich hosts Borussia Dortmund

Bayern Munich hosts Borussia Dortmund

All of the fans of German football will be excited on Saturday, because the champion Bayern Munich hosts Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena in the big derby of the Bundesliga.

For Bayern Munich this is going to be a first Bundesliga game since the departure of the head coach Niko Kovac. The Croatian manager was sacked after the humilating 1-5 loss against Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend. During the week the caretaker Hans Dieter Flick debuted with a win in the Champions League with Bayern beaing Olympiakos with 2-0 in Munich.

While Bayern Munich’s board is still looking for a new manager to replace Kovac, Hans Dieter Flick must find a way to calm the dressing room and motivate the players before the big derby. Against Olympiakos he left Philippe Coutinho on the bench, but maybe his idea was to keep the Brazilian fresh for the game against Dortmund on Saturday. Thiago Alcantara and Ivan Perisic also sat on the bench on Wednesday.

Borussia Dortmund also had a game in the Champions League during the week, beating Inter Milan with 3-2 at the Signal Iduna Park in a dramatic and exciting fixture. Die Borussen were two goals behind, but in a heroic way they turned the game around with two goals from Achraf Hakimi and one from Julian Brandt.

What Borussia Dortmund can do now is try to use the managerial problems in Bayern Munich. The situation in the champions’ dressing room is not perfect and they are without a head coach now. This is a great chance for Lucien Favre’s boys to make a hit. So far Dortmund have lost just one game in the Bundesliga – against the newcomers Union Berlin.

Even without a manager at the moment, Bayern Munich remain a boogeyman. For Borussia Dortmund it won’t be easy at the Allianz Arena, but they also have the tools to win this one.