Julian Nagelsmann hopes Germany will play “more or less the same” as they did in their victory over Scotland when they face Hungary on Wednesday.
The Euro 2024 hosts ran away as comfortable 5-1 winners – the biggest victory in an opening game of a Euros.
But Nagelsmann is wary of Hungary’s threat in Stuttgart, despite claiming they are on “a similar level” to Scotland.
“Maybe they have to play a little bit more attacking because otherwise they might be eliminated from the tournament but we hope to play more or less the same as we did against Scotland,” said Nagelsmann.
“Hungary are a team who play a very good transitional game and it doesn’t matter which striker is playing. They are very dangerous on set-pieces.
“I’ve prepared my players and I hope we put everything on the pitch.”
Nagelsmann, a former manager of Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich, has been to the home of VfB Stuttgart on many occasions in the Bundesliga and hopes the fans can produce a strong atmosphere.
“I was here for some matches and mainly saw Stuttgart supporters but I hope lots of them are also supporters for the national team,” he said.
“Sometimes you feel the atmosphere. I was quite happy with it [in the first game] but of course better is always possible.”
Germany defender Maximilian Mittelstadt, who also plays for Stuttgart, is looking forward to playing at his home ground but knows it won’t be easy.
“I took many great things from this stadium this season. I hope I can add another good memory,” he added.
“Hungary will be very difficult. If we do any mistakes it could be really hurtful, especially with [Hungary and Liverpool midfielder] Dominik Szoboszlai.”
‘The German team is better than us’
Meanwhile, Hungary manager Marco Rossi has dubbed Germany the “toughest team to play against right now” after their impressive opening performance on home soil.
But he hopes to see a reaction from his players after a 3-1 loss to Switzerland left them third in the group.
“We will do our very best. We know the German team is better than us. We can say this and nobody needs to take offence. It can motivate us.
“We can give it our best shot. Hopefully we can grasp a point and that will give us a chance to qualify for the next round. Everyone has to give 100%.
“We can see what they can do. They are the only team who have dominated a match from the beginning to the end without hesitating.”
Union Berlin and Hungary midfielder Andras Schafer hopes their knowledge of the German team will help them.
“It’s not a disadvantage that we have played here for quite a few games and we often play against German players or have them as team-mates,” he said
“Of course it is a benefit for us. It would be much more difficult if we had never played in Stuttgart. Everyone has some sort of experience of the German team.
“They have these top-class players but we want to compete against them as a team to get at least one or possibly three points.”
Source: BBC
