Gala display against Latvia
Tue, 08/06/2021, 10:46
Successful dress rehearsal for Germany, milestone for Neuer
Three goals by Bayern pros and a special milestone: Manuel Neuer & Co. turned in a gala display on Monday evening, enjoying a successful dress rehearsal for EURO 2020! In Germany's last friendly before the first group match against France on 15 June, Germany downed Latvia 7-1 in Düsseldorf. Seven Bayern pros featured on Monday, with Thomas Müller, Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sané adding their names to the scoresheet in a special milestone match for Germany captain Manuel Neuer. The FCB keeper made his 100th appearance for Germany, more than any other keeper.
Neuer honoured
Guard of honour for the captain: Manuel Neuer was honoured ahead of his milestone match.
His teammates formed a guard of honour for Neuer, who is the 16th player to make 100 or more appearances for Germany. The 35-year-old wore gloves with "100" on them. Besides Neuer, Gnabry, Müller und Joshua Kimmich started on Monday, with Sané, Niklas Süle and Jamal Musiala coming on in the second half. Leon Goretzka was not in the matchday squad after sustaining a muscle strain in May.
Goal-hungry from the off
First goal after his comeback: Thomas Müller made it three for Germany before the half-hour.
Neuer was not particularly busy on Monday as Germany were dominant from the start. The 1,000 crowd in Düsseldorf saw Müller miss two big chances before Robin Gosens scored the opener after 18 minutes, Ilkay Gündoğan doubling the advantage 90 seconds later. Kimmich hit the post before Gosens invited Müller to score his first goal after his comeback. Roberts Ozol put through his own goal, Gnabry rounding off Germany's five-goal half-time lead.
Serge Gnabry rounded off Germany's five-goal half-time lead.
The home side kept attacking after the interval, sub Timo Werner making it a half-dozen after a Kimmich pass. Germany were dominant throughout but Latvia's Aleksejs Saveljevs scored a consolation goal out of the blue with a quarter-hour to go. Sané rounded off the final 7-1 scoreline after a Müller pass one minute later.
Germany set off to Herzogenaurach
On Tuesday Germany set off to their home base in Herzogenaurach. Jogi Löw's men will contest all their EURO group matches against France (15 June), Portugal (19 June) and Hungary (23 June) at Munich's Allianz Arena.
Germany were held to a draw by Denmark in their second-to-last friendly before the EURO:
Topics of this article