Topics: UEFA Euro 2020, France, Germany, Paul Pogba
Die Mannschaft were condemned to a painful one zero defeat to pick up an unwanted milestone on Tuesday night.

It was another disappointing night of football for the German national team as they ended up with a defeat in their opening Euro 2020 group encounter with France. Joachim Low's men suffered a painful 1-0 loss to the current world champions, with Manchester United star Paul Pogba delivering one of his best-ever performances for Les Bleus.

The highly anticipated encounter lived up to the billing, although it was the French side who made significant strides to secure the all-important win. While the Germans created just one genuine goalscoring opportunity in the entirety of the meeting, their opponents were endowed with more but, ironically, had a Matts Hummels own-goal securing the win for them. Needless to say, they might not have been Lady Luck's favorites after all as they saw goals by Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema being chalked off for offside.

In the end, Germany landed an unwanted feat of losing their first-ever European championship opening group game in their footballing history. So far, they had won seven and drawn five of their previous 12. While they remain a favourite to win the tournament, they are now met with the herculean task of matching the Netherlands record of being the only side the win the Euros in 1988 after losing their opening game of the tournament. The complex nature of this task is inspired by the fact that they will go up against defending champions Portugal in their next clash before taking on a bullish Hungarian side.

In the French camp, the formula which features the indispensable partnership between Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante in the heart of midfield proved effective once more. The former particularly earned plaudits and, ultimately, the Man of the Match award after another stellar display for Les Bleus. Having played a massive role in the winning goal scored, the Manchester United midfielder helped his side extend its unbeaten run when he partners with Kante in midfield to 28 (22 wins, 6 draws) across all competitions.

Speaking after picking up his Star of the Match award, Pogba said: "We all made effort, this win is for everyone, not only those who were on the pitch. Everyone was talking before the Euros, favourites or not favourites, group of death... we are focused on what has to be done on the pitch."