Joachim Low insists Germany don’t have an ‘Italy complex’
Despite all of their success on the international stage, the Germans have never beaten Italy at a major championship.
The Azzurri secured a memorable 3-1 triumph to win the 1982 World Cup final in Spain, not to mention knocking the hosts out of their own tournament at the semi-finals in 2006 as well as eliminating Low’s side from the same stage at Euro 2012.
Nevertheless, Low sees no reason why his 2014 World Cup-winning squad should not have confidence of expunging that unwanted record this weekend, having confidently topped Group C and then swept past Slovakia 3-0 to reach the last eight.
“I am not a fan of digging things up from the past. We don’t have an Italy complex,” Low said yesterday.
“This is cold coffee. I prefer a fresh espresso, and we need to make sure it tastes good on Saturday.”
Low continued: “It (the defeat at Euro 2012) hurt me an awful lot, but it was a good lesson and also helped me in my personal development.
“As a coach I thought about it. What happened? What mistakes were made? It helped me in 2014 with certain decisions at the tournament. You can always make a mistake as a player or a coach.”
The German coach reported no fresh injury concerns following the win over Slovakia.
Low accepts Italy are also in impressive form, having dispatched Euro 2012 champions Spain 2-0 on Monday.
“It will be an incredibly tough match against the Italians,” he said.
“They are not only focused on the defence, but are also strong in attack.
“It will be a very tight match, and the outcome is relatively open.
“We are not afraid of Italy. We have trust in our own performance levels and if we deliver them, then we have good chances of winning the game.”
Germany were impressive against Slovakia but Low feels more will be required from now on.
“We were almost written off after our 0-0 [group match] against Poland,” Low recalled.
“Then we win 3-0 and everything is great. Okay, we did it well but with all due respect for our opponents, I don’t think that this victory was the measure for winning the tournament.
“What we need now is humility and modesty. I have a good feeling for the weekend but we need to improve, we have to get better.”
Meanwhile, Germany forward Lukas Podolski has criticised the new 24-team format for Euro 2016, labelling it “stupid” due to the confusion it has created for players.
The expansion from 16 to 24 teams meant four of the best third-placed teams joined the top-two from each of the six groups in the last 16 and Podolski believes sides were forced to wait too long to discover who their opponents were in the knockouts stages.
“The group stage was a little bit strange, because Uefa did some stupid things with the system. It’s not about the smaller teams, it’s about the decisions. Some teams waited three days in the camp for a decision,” Podolski said.
“You lose the first two games and you still have a chance to get through to the next round. So it is a bit confused but for us, it doesn’t matter.”
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