We must up our game – Khedira

Experienced midfielder Sami Khedira admits Germany need to make a big improvement if they are going to stand any chance of winning the European Championship in France.

Germany were supreme when winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as they inflicted a demoralising 7-1 defeat on the hosts in the semi-final stage of the competition.

Another strong showing is expected at Euro 2016, which starts on Friday, but preparations have not gone entirely to plan for manager Joachim Low.

Three defeats have been suffered in their last five matches and the two victories, picked up over Italy and Hungary, still showed there are areas that need to be improved.

Bastian Schweinsteiger’s absence from the starting line-up has certainly been key as the midfielder is still struggling for fitness after a long lay-off with a knee injury.

Some of Low’s squad selections have also been criticised with Julian Brandt and Karim Bellarabi being left out of his plans, while Marco Reus was unfortunately ruled out through injury for the second successive major tournament in a row.

Khedira, who is expected to play a big part in the holding midfield role, admits the recent displays have not been good enough and the team need to get back to their previous best if they are to do well in France.

“Our performance in recent months were just not good enough. I think everyone’s aware of that,” he said. “We all know that we need to step up to play for the title at the European Championship.”

Germany, who are priced at 5.50 to win the title, have been drawn in a difficult group alongside Northern Ireland, Poland and Ukraine and the world champions are 1.40 favourites to top the pool.

Low’s men open their campaign against Ukraine on Sunday and are 1.53 to get the win, a draw is priced at 3.80 while Mykhaylo Fomenko’s outfit are 6.00 outsiders.