DFB team back in Stuttgart: Nagelsmann: "That was the bitterest defeat for me"

It's been almost exactly eleven months since the German national football team was eliminated from the European Championship at home. The defeat to Spain still haunts the protagonists almost a year later – now the DFB team is back in Stuttgart.

Looking back, national coach Julian Nagelsmann described the home European Championship quarterfinal exit against Spain as his "bitterest defeat." It was "a sad day in my football career," Nagelsmann said ahead of Sunday's match (3 p.m./RTL, DAZN, and in the ntv.de live ticker) against World Cup runners-up France. The German national team returns to Stuttgart for the first time for the Nations League third-place match. It was there that they were eliminated 2-1 after extra time at the home European Championship eleven months ago.

At the pre-match press conference, Nagelsmann recalled the "crass drama" of the European Championship quarterfinals. In the high-class and close match, Spain took the lead in the 51st minute through former Leipzig player Dani Olmo. Only shortly before the final whistle was Germany international Florian Wirtz able to equalize – and force the national team into extra time. "We equalized in the 89th minute and conceded a goal in the 119th minute," Nagelsmann said. "You can't do much more dramatic things than that."

Midfielder Pascal Groß agreed. "For me, even though I didn't play in the game, I can say it was the bitterest defeat of my career," said the 33-year-old. Regarding Wirtz's equalizer, he said that as a teammate, he had never felt such emotion after scoring a goal. "I still feel like we were extremely close to scoring the big goal," said the Borussia Dortmund midfielder. "And that hurts, of course."

Both also said, however, that the return to Stuttgart and the memories of the Spain match would have "little impact" on the match against France. The German national team is aiming to bring the Nations League final tournament to a conciliatory conclusion against the World Cup runners-up. Germany had previously deservedly lost the semifinal against Portugal 2-1 (0-0) on Wednesday.

Nagelsmann announced some changes to the starting lineup compared to the defeat, but didn't provide any details. It's likely that Groß, who was also present at the press conference, will start. The national coach also demanded an improvement in his team's performance. The game still contains "many facets," Nagelsmann emphasized, even if it would be "normal" to be "missing a few percentage points."

Despite the "small" final, the national coach doesn't anticipate any motivational problems for his team: "It's still the German senior national team. I think that if I have to go into the locker room and constantly motivate them, then I'll have to reorganize the squad. Football is a beautiful thing. Nobody has to dig up a field by hand tomorrow."