Mats Hummels’ own goal condemns Germans to defeat on home soil

Despite dominating possession, Germany were unable to start the tournament with a bang as an own goal from Mats Hummels subdued Die Mannschaft to defeat against France in their opening match.

Joachim Low’s side suffered defeat on their opening game of the European Championships for the very first time, making what was first seen as a tough group to get out of appear to be even more difficult. Only the Netherlands have gone onto win a tournament following defeat in the first game, and that was back in 1988.

Hummels’ own goal proved to be the difference between France and the hard working Germans.

Didier Deschamps’ men were hard to break down, having only 38% possession throughout the entirety of the match – They only needed one clear cut chance.

The build up for France’s goal was quite special, Paul Pogba’s pass sliced the German defence in half. Which allowed for Lucas Hernandez to latch onto the ball in stride. The full-back fizzed the ball onto the edge of the six yard box, in the hopes of finding Kylian Mbappe. However, the ball befriended Hummels’ shin instead.

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Germany almost drew level through Thomas Muller, whose goal bound header glanced just wide of Hugo Lloris’ goal. A moment which would’ve put Die Mannschaft on level terms and given them a heads up.

Former West Brom man, Serge Gnabry, was a positive spark for Germany. Having a number of key chances, the winger failed to guide a shot on target which just glanced over the crossbar.

Gnabry started as a striker for Die Mannschaft until he was replaced by Chelsea’s Timo Werner in the 74th minute.

France had the ball in the back of the net for a second time thanks to PSG’s Mbappe however, the forward’s goal was ruled out for offside.

It was a remarkable finish from the Frenchman, curling it past two defenders and Lloris into the bottom right corner. It just wasn’t to be as the number ten stood yards offside.

The road only gets harder for Die Mannschaft as they face Portugal in their next match. It’s still very much possible that Low’s men can make it out of the group stages, even as the third placed team, but a draw against Portugal and a win against Hungary is the absolute minimum.

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