Die Mannschaft’s clash with Italy on Tuesday night was encapsulating, but ultimately ended goalless. Germany’s protagonists were happy with their performance at the San Siro, and DFB.de gathered the reaction from the away dressing room in Milan.
Joachim Löw: It was an intense tactical battle. We can take a lot of insight from today’s game. We were good going forward in the first half in particular, although we dropped off a little after the break. The young players gain crucial experience by playing in front of a crowd like that. We can be happy with our trip to Italy, much like our run of six consecutive clean sheets. Our overall record in 2016 is a good one. We want to dominate our World Cup qualifying campaign and avoid dropping off, something we failed to do in the build-up to EURO 2016.
Thomas Müller: We saw two very different halves. We were the better team in the first 45, but the Italians applied more pressure after the change of ends. I have to compliment the boys; you could certainly see that we have a lot of young talents in Germany. I’m proud to have led the lads out onto the pitch as captain today.
Yannick Gerhardt: I was very much looking forward to the game. The atmosphere in the stadium was something special. I will never forget today. When you’ve played with the senior team once, you obviously want to stick around.
Benedikt Höwedes: We dominated the first 45 and pushed Italy back into their own half. We knew the threat they can offer and they became more dangerous in the second half. I think 0-0 is a fair result at the end of the day.
Bernd Leno: Our goal was to keep a clean sheet and we managed that. All in all, I feel we put in a decent performance today.