Thursday Euro 2016 Germany vs France – Preview

July 07, 2016 20:00pm – Stade Vélodrome, Marseille

Semi-finals

Recent Form (all comps)

Germany: WWWDW

France: WWDWW

Germany and France have never met in a European Championship finals event – however, they have met four times at the FIFA World Cup with Germany having prevailed in the last three meetings. France’s solitary win came in Sweden way back in 1958 when they ran out 6-3 winners in the third-place play-off match.

The teams will clash again at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on Thursday night with a semi-final place against Portugal or Wales at stake. Both sides have won four and drawn one of their five tournament matches so far.

Germany have enjoyed a huge share of the possession in all their Euro 2016 games with an average total of 63% compared to France’s 55%. Nonetheless, it is France who have been sharper in front of goal having scored 11 times from 87 attempts compared to Germany’s ratio of 7 from 91.

The other statistics have been remarkably similar suggesting that this will be a tight contest with the French happier to see slightly less of the ball and strike on the counter-attack.

France have the better record in overall meetings between the teams but Germany have the edge where it counts – at competitive tournament level.

France have three players in the race for the Golden boot with Antoine Griezmann on four goals, and Olivier Giroud and Dimitri Payet on three apiece. Mario Gomez leads the scoring for Germany with a total of two.

Match Facts

• Both teams come into this game unbeaten at Euro 2016
• First Euro finals meeting between the two teams
• France unbeaten in their last nine games, having won eight and drawn one
• France have hit the woodwork six times already
• Germany were 1-0 winners when the teams met at the quarter final stage of 2014 World Cup

Prediction

France have not beaten Germany at a major tournament since 1958 but they look well-placed to push their neighbours all the way here. They have three strikers in form, are unbeaten in nine matches and have home advantage. With that in mind, we are backing this one to go to all the way to extra-time.

You can back the draw at 2/1 with Betfair.

Betfair is our recommended bookmaker for all your Euro 2016 bets.