With club football coming to an end following the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League final, the attention shifts to international football, with Germany taking to the field on Monday in preparation for their upcoming UEFA Euro 2024, with the continental powerhouse taking on Ukraine in an interesting friendly at the Weserstadion.
Germany are the hosts of Euro 2024 and will play no part in the qualifying campaign. As a result, the European powerhouse will have to make do with friendly matches as they look to make amends for their disappointing 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign in Qatar.
The four-time world champions crashed out of the illustrious competition in the group stage for the second time in a row, having suffered a similar embarrassment at Russia 2018 when they were the defending champions. Despite having Hansi Flick, the man who led Bayern Munich to the sextuple, Gundogan and Co. were unable to make it to the knockout stage.
Flick's men suffered a shocking 2-1 defeat against Japan in their opening game before drawing against Spain. As a result, their victory over Costa Rica in the final group-stage match did not matter as the two aforementioned sides sealed progression to the last 16 over the FIFA World Cup's joint-second most successful nation.
Due to this, Flick's position with the German national team came under scrutiny. The man who was brought on to turn things around following their demise under Joachim Low was now being linked with the sack. However, Hansi persevered and remained on as the head coach, meaning he will have another go at a major competition.
This will be Germany's third friendly since Qatar 2022, having played twice in March. The Germans will hope for a totally different outcome to their most recent outing, a 3-2 defeat against Belgium. Flick's men conceded twice in the opening 10 minutes in that game, with Carrasco, Lukaku, and De Bruyne all finding the back of the net while Fulkrug and Gnabry got on the scoresheet.
Ukraine, meanwhile, have their earn their spot in next year's European Championship and their upcoming clash with Germany will aid them in the qualifying round as the Eastern European nation face competition from England and Italy to qualify.
So far, Zinchenko and Co. have played only one game but that was a disappointing defeat against the Three Lions at Wembley. Arsenal sensation Bukayo Saka stole the show in that matchup as he assisted Harry Kane for the opener before netting an outstanding goal in Ukraine's 2-0 defeat, with Mykhaylo Mudryk failing to impress.
Additionally, Sergiy Rebrov's side have two crucial Euro 2024 qualifiers on the horizon this month, facing North Macedonia and Malta in must-win fixtures. As a result, the Blue and Yellow will want to enter those fixtures on the back of a positive result against Germany, be it a victory or even a draw.
Ukraine are unbeaten in their last five friendly matches. However, the Eastern European nation have failed to score in four of their last five matches, which is an alarming statistic ahead of their trip to Bremen.
Team news
Germany: Hansi Flick will be without a number of key players, namely Ilkay Gundogan and Robin Gosens, who played in the UEFA Champions League final for Man City and Inter Milan respectively. Additionally, Serge Gnabry, Thomas Muller, Mario Gotze, Niklas Sule, Karim Adeyemi, and Marco Reus are also unavailable.
Ukraine: Oleksandr Zinchenko is unavailable after suffering a calf problem that ruled him out for Arsenal's final games of the season. Additionally, Roman Yaremchuk has pulled out of the national team for this fixture. Mykhaylo Mudryk, however, is present and will be hoping for a start to prove his quality after a frustrating spell at Chelsea so far.
Key stats
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Germany are unbeaten in their last eight encounters with Ukraine.
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The last time these two sides met was in the 2020-21 Nations League, with the Blue and Yellow losing 2-1 and 3-1 to the four-time World Cup winners.
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Ukraine are unbeaten in their last five international friendly games.
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Hansi Flick's side have lost three out of their last 10 fixtures across all competitions.
Broadcast listings
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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