Ilkay Gundogan is to be a central figure when Germany face Spain in a Euro 2024 quarter final blockbuster on Friday evening. The Barcelona midfielder renews acquaintance with a number of fellow Camp Nou players and a couple of former Manchester City team mates in international football’s closest thing to El Clasico.
Germany’s captain skippered the Cityzens to a memorable treble before leaving for Catalonia and he’s is up against La Roja midfield metronome Rodrigo Cascante Hernandez ‘Rodri’ in a mouthwatering direct confrontation while another former Etihad Stadium mainstay, Aymeric Laporte, is among Spain’s defensive kingpins.
Barcelona team mates Lamine Yamal and Pedro Gonzalez ‘Pedri’ are also expected to keep their places in Luis de la Fuente’s starting line up as Spain try to live up to their billing as Euro 2024’s most impressive outfit.
With Die Mannschaft’s Real Madrid pair Toni Kroos and Antonio Rudiger also squaring up to Santiago Bernabeu mate Dani Carvajal, Liga Santander fans would be forgiven if this duel is dubbed an El Clasico of sorts.
Spain and Germany are European football’s most successful sides with three titles a piece. Julian Nagelsmann’s Die Mannschaft were champs in 1972, 1980 and 1996 whereas La Roja won the trophy in 1964, 2008 and 2012. Spain are meanwhile unbeaten in their last six meetings with their old rivals (3 wins and 3 draws).
Bayer Leverkusen duo Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah are expected to be restored to the starting line up by Nagelsmann at the expense of Leroy Sane and Jonathan Tah as he tries to counter Spain’s possession based game.
Friday’s second game is a repeat of the Euro 2016 final which saw Portugal beat France 1-0 in extra time. All time European Championships top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid bound Kylian Mbappe Lottin will both be aiming to score their first goals at Euro 2024.
Mbappe will relish the opportunity to run at Portugal’s 41-year-old centre back Pepe whose calamitous slip was almost punished by Slovenia’s Benjamin Sesko in the round of 16. France will be the fresher side as Portugal played extra time and needed a penalty shoot out to subdue Slovenia.