Germany midfielder Mario Gotze says that the national team are not afraid of facing Spain in the upcoming friendly match. This is one of the high-profile friendlies scheduled for the team, who managed to lift the World Cup in the summer. Gotze scored the winning goal in the final against Argentina. He has come in leaps and bounds since being highly recognised for his talent at Borussia Dortmund. Germany have suffered some high profile defeats against Spain in recent years. The defeat in the Euro 2008 final was followed by a defeat in the World Cup 2010 semifinals. This has prompted talk that a victory in the match would be sweet revenge for Joachim Loew’s team.

Gotze has dispelled those talks by saying that Germany are the current world champions and that they need not fear any opposition or go into matches seeking revenge. Spain are going through a transitional period and are certainly not as strong as they once were. Manager Vicente del Bosque has called up a number of new players to the team, while he will also be missing key individuals like Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas. The Chelsea duo pulled out of the squad at the last moment citing injury problems. Spain managed to win their recent Euro 2016 qualifier against Belarus.

“Those games have nothing to do with the friendly we are about to play. We are not out for revenge. Revenge for what? We are the current world champions. We’re going to be playing against an elite team, one that has dominated world football in recent years. Competing at that level is always a special experience,” said Gotze. “We’re looking forward to this match. Against Spain it’s for certain that you meet a great opponent on a very high technical level,” said Loew to the German FA’s official site.