England face Germany in Tuesday’s Round of 16 clash in Euro 2020 at Wembley in a highly anticipated clash.
There are plenty of Germany players who are familiar to fans of English football, including Chelsea trio Antonio Rudiger, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, alongside Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.
It is a star-studded team full of illustrious names and there are multiple former Premier League players within the ranks of Joachim Low’s squad.
Former Liverpool midfielder Emre Can has featured this tournament and Leroy Sane – once of Manchester City – is likely to feature from the start.
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The biggest threat though may be a player who only featured in 11 Premier League matches, of which just five were starts.
Serge Gnabry has blossomed into one of football’s elite attacking talents since returning to Germany, following on from a bit-part role at Arsenal and unsuccessful loan spell at West Brom.
The 25-year-old has starred for Bayern Munich across the past three season, helping them continue their domestic dominance in that timeframe and also winning the Champions League crown last year.
Gnabry starred during that European run as he netted nine times in Bayern’s route to the final, including hitting a remarkable six goals in two visits to London.
He was the star of the show as Bayern ran out 7-2 victors at Tottenham when he struck four times, while he also added a brace when Hansi Flick’s side ran out 3-0 winners at Chelsea in the Round of 16 during that year’s competition.
Now he is back in the English capital for the first time since those games and has his eyes set on more success in front of goal.
“So far I’ve done very well when I’ve come back to London, hopefully on Tuesday as well,” Gnabry said, as per Bayern’s official site.
“For me, there’s always a lot of history when we go to England because I still have some friends there as well. Hopefully they’ll be in the stadium.
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“I’ve never played at Wembley before. I personally and we as a team are really looking forward to the game.
“Of course, not having scored yet isn’t ideal. But we’ve progressed as a team. I keep waiting for my chance.”
Gnabry has started all three matches in this summer’s European Championships but is yet to find the back of the net.
He is however the joint-third highest scorer in the squad – behind the vastly experienced duo of Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos – with his 16 goals in 25 internationals the best strike rate in the squad, averaging out at a rate of 0.64 goals per game.
Gnabry spent five years in London with Arsenal between 2011 and 2016 before returning to Germany with Werder Bremen, where he began to show his true potential.
Across his spells with Werder, Hoffenheim (loan) and Bayern, he has scored 67 goals across five seasons.
