Germany have been drawn alongside Ukraine, Poland and northern Ireland for the EURO 2016 group stage. Joachim Löw believes his team are favourites in Group C. "We want to win Group C," said the head coach, while general manager Oliver Bierhoff is relieved: "We had some luck." Read the rest of the reaction to the draw here.
Joachim Löw: "We will concentrate from the very first game. Poland are a great side while Ukraine and Northern Ireland can be unpleasant to play with their counters and good defending. We are the favourites and want to win the group."
Oliver Bierhoff: "We had some luck with the draw. We absolutely wanted to avoid Italy. Of course, we will take our opponents seriously. Northern Ireland are my favourites as I scored my fastest ever hat trick there."
Thomas Müller: "I’m happy with the group we’re in. Lewy is up against us!" (via Twitter)
Antonio Rüdiger: “It could have gone a lot worse for us. Nevertheless, we have to be careful. We all know the high level of football at the EUROs, so you can’t afford slip-ups. We saw how dangerous Poland can be during qualifying, beating us once. Northern Ireland are no doubt the unknown in our group.”
Lothar Matthäus: “The luck of the draw is on our side again. I think that Germany fans can already start gearing themselves up for the knockouts.”
Martin O'Neill (Northern Ireland manager): “We’ve been placed in a difficult group, but we expected that. It will be a good challenge for us and we will enjoy playing against players of Robert Lewandowski’s calibre. Our fans will certainly be looking forward to the games, but they will be tough ones for us.”
Robert Lewandowski (Poland striker): “It’s a good draw. We will give Ukraine, Northern Ireland and of course Germany a good fight as we aim to reach the next round.”
Mykhaylo Fomenko (Ukraine manager): “We want to play a good role in the group. It would be a big success if we reach the next round. We don’t have to talk about how difficult it will be to play against World Champions Germany.”
Adam Nawalka (Poland manager): “It won’t be easy to reach the next round, but we knew that ahead of the draw. We have respect for all of our opponents, but we fear no one.”
[mmc/alc/mh]
Germany have been drawn alongside Ukraine, Poland and northern Ireland for the EURO 2016 group stage. Joachim Löw believes his team are favourites in Group C. "We want to win Group C," said the head coach, while general manager Oliver Bierhoff is relieved: "We had some luck." Read the rest of the reaction to the draw here.
Joachim Löw: "We will concentrate from the very first game. Poland are a great side while Ukraine and Northern Ireland can be unpleasant to play with their counters and good defending. We are the favourites and want to win the group."
Oliver Bierhoff: "We had some luck with the draw. We absolutely wanted to avoid Italy. Of course, we will take our opponents seriously. Northern Ireland are my favourites as I scored my fastest ever hat trick there."
Thomas Müller: "I’m happy with the group we’re in. Lewy is up against us!" (via Twitter)
Antonio Rüdiger: “It could have gone a lot worse for us. Nevertheless, we have to be careful. We all know the high level of football at the EUROs, so you can’t afford slip-ups. We saw how dangerous Poland can be during qualifying, beating us once. Northern Ireland are no doubt the unknown in our group.”
Lothar Matthäus: “The luck of the draw is on our side again. I think that Germany fans can already start gearing themselves up for the knockouts.”
Martin O'Neill (Northern Ireland manager): “We’ve been placed in a difficult group, but we expected that. It will be a good challenge for us and we will enjoy playing against players of Robert Lewandowski’s calibre. Our fans will certainly be looking forward to the games, but they will be tough ones for us.”
Robert Lewandowski (Poland striker): “It’s a good draw. We will give Ukraine, Northern Ireland and of course Germany a good fight as we aim to reach the next round.”
Mykhaylo Fomenko (Ukraine manager): “We want to play a good role in the group. It would be a big success if we reach the next round. We don’t have to talk about how difficult it will be to play against World Champions Germany.”
Adam Nawalka (Poland manager): “It won’t be easy to reach the next round, but we knew that ahead of the draw. We have respect for all of our opponents, but we fear no one.”
