England vs Germany

England and Germany go head-to-head at Wembley Stadium in a mouth-watering Euro 2020 Round-of-16 showdown.

England have started a major international tournament with three clean sheets for the first time since their triumphant 1996 World Cup campaign, the same one that marked their win against Germany in a knock-out fixture (Euros or World Cup). Indeed, the ‘Three Lions’ have since suffered defeat in each of their three knock-out meetings with the Germans across major tournaments, two of which came via penalty shoot-outs. Interestingly, each of England’s last four triumphs has yielded the identical 1-0 scoreline, as many as their previous 26 victories had been. Additionally, Gareth Southgate’s men have gone unbeaten in nine consecutive international matches (W8, D1) since losing 2-0 away to Belgium in the Nations League, notably keeping a first-half clean sheet in each of those nine games. In fact, since beating Poland 2-1 at home in a World Cup qualifier, they have five shutouts in a row.

On the other hand, Leon Goretzka’s 84th-minute strike gave Germany a 2-2 draw against Hungary on Matchday 3 and a place in the Euro 2020 knock-outs. Unlike England, Germany’s Euro 2020 fixtures have been fun to watch, with each of the last two seeing both teams score at least twice in matches featuring 2+ second-half goals (W1, D1). Worryingly, though, since beating Slovakia 3-0 at this stage of Euro 2016, the Germans have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their subsequent eight matches at major tournaments. But ‘Die Mannschaft’ can find inspiration in reaching the semi-finals in each of their last three appearances at the European Championships. Indeed, Germany have gone past the round of 16 each time they’ve reached the knock-out phase since the tournament was rebranded in 1966.