Arsène Wenger counts the Dutch together with France, Belgium and England among the contenders for the overall victory at the European Championship, which starts next week. However, the former Arsenal manager calls reigning world champions France the ‘super favorite’ for the title of European champion. “There are many, many reasons for that,” Wenger revealed in conversation with beIN Sports.
“The main reason is that they convincingly became world champions in Russia. France has a young team, they haven’t reached their peak yet. That’s why I believe they are now the absolute favorite. They have no major problems with injuries towards the European Championship and the fact that Karim Benzema has been called up for the first time in five years makes them even stronger from an attacking point of view. Imagine having an attack with Mbappe, Griezmann and Benzema… Then there are some great attackers behind that, it’s unbelievable what attackers they have on the bench,” Wenger said.
“France has players on the bench who would be guaranteed to play in the starting line-up elsewhere. Belgium, England and the Netherlands may also have a chance in my view, but I would put France at the top of this group of favorites,” the Frenchman continues. Wenger previously said that Germany is not a contender for the European title in his eyes. “I feel they have lost stability. To be successful, your team must have a combination of hunger, faith, aggression and fighting spirit. I think in Germany faith is gone.”
The upcoming European Championship will be the last final tournament for Joachim Löw as national coach of Germany. “He has done a fantastic job for Germany. But to be fair, a manager loses power when the players know he is leaving. That has a psychological effect on the players, who know that they don’t really need you anymore. With selections so large these days, it is very difficult to create unity and solidarity within your group. And then the confidence is not so great in Germany. They have been defeated a number of times.”
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