Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger came off the bench to score his first global goal in five years and seal a ideal start to the world champions’ Euro 2016 campaign with a 2-0 win over Ukraine.
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World champions Germany played the Ukraine in their first match of Euro 2016 at Pierre-Mauroy Stadium in Lille shortly after the disturbance.
But Schweinsteiger, who has been nursing a knee injury, came on as a substitute for striker Mario Gotze just before stoppage time and did not disappoint, receiving a pass from Arsenal star Mesut Ozil on a breakaway in the 92nd minute and volleying the ball into the roof of Ukraine’s goal.
“My injury was healed, I feel very good”. We defended better in the second half and Bastian Schweinsteiger was delighted to make such a great comeback after so many weeks slogging to get back to fitness.
But from the evidence we’ve seen so far, if any of them want to win the tournament there will be a considerable threat standing in their way: those Germans, again. “I hope he can play from the start soon”.
“I ran so hard in the celebrations that I’m a bit out of breath still”, the Manchester United midfielder told ARD.
“It was fantastic for that to happen, it’s the kind of thing you can only wish for, but the most important thing is the team wins”.
Fomenko brought on fresh legs up front midway through the second half, swapping out Roman Zozulya and creative youngster Viktor Kovalenko for Yevhen Seleznyov and Olexandr Zinchenko, but they made little impact on an injury-hit German defence that played itself in after a nervous opening period. He was injured for much of it, and played very poorly for most of the time that he was match fit.
Germany midfielder Sami Khedira added: “Well it wouldn’t be right if everything was ideal in the first game”.
And as Ukraine pressed for a leveller, Die Mannschaft broke on the counter to finish it off in one foul swoop, pocketing a valuable three points, which has them in a strong position ahead of their next Group C fixture against Poland who had earlier beat Northern Ireland 1-0.
Nonetheless, more than 50 German hooligans attacked Ukraine fans before the match in the streets of Lille, where the match was held.
Ukraine was unable to sustain the same tempo after the break but its display showed Germany it will need to raise its game against Poland Thursday.
“Basti was class when he came on and made the goal”, said Neuer.
Loew has now led Germany to opening game victories in five straight tournaments without conceding a goal.
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The game was played amid tight scrutiny after the ugly scenes that had marred the game between England and Russian Federation in Marseille.
