NOW OR NEVER

France have not beaten Germany in a major tournament since the 1958 World Cup and get a perfect opportunity to redress the imbalance before their home fans in the Euro 2016 semifinal on Thursday

FRANCE 6 WEST GERMANY 3 World Cup 3rd place match, June 28, 1958

A comprehensive 6-3 win over West Germany to claim a consolation third-place finish in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden remains France’s only competitive victory over the Germans. With four goals in the nine-goal thriller, Just Fontaine emerged as a hero for Les Bleus after a performance that also saw Raymond Kopa hit a penalty and Yvon Douis hit the net in the 50th minute. Fontaine’s 13 goals at the 1958 finals remains a record for a single World Cup.

WEST GERMANY 3 FRANCE 3* World Cup semifinal, July 8, 1982

West Germany’s semifinal win over France in 1982 will forever be overshadowed by goalkeeper Harald Schumacher’s mid-air charge on Patrick Battiston, leaving the French defender with broken teeth and broken ribs. Schumacher went unpunished because Dutch referee Charles Corver stated he did not see the incident. The game went to extra-time with the scores at 1-1, and France took a 3-1 lead only for Germany to come back 3-3 and win the match 5-4 on penalties.

FRANCE 0 WEST GERMANY 2 World Cup semifinal, June 25, 1986

Four years after the infamous Schumacher-Battiston incident, relations between two European giants had barely thawed. Any pre-match nerves were kicked into touch after just nine minutes when Andreas Brehme gave the Germans an early lead in Guadalajara. Michel Platini, Jean Tigana, Luiz Fernandez and Alain Giresse failed to conjure a leveller and West Germany, with Harald Schumacher still in goal, were left rejoicing when Rudi Voeller scored a second. Germany lost 1-3 to Italy in the final.

FRANCE 0 GERMANY 1 World Cup quarterfinal, July 4, 2014

Over 74,000 fans packed the Maracana Stadium in Rio De Janeiro to see France and Germany meet for the fourth time at a World Cup and the Germans walked away victorious. After just 13 minutes, centre-back Mats Hummels got ahead of his marker Raphael Varane to meet Toni Kroos’s free-kick and head past France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. France striker Karim Benzema spurned a late chance to level and take the match into extra-time when he shot straight at Germany ‘keeper Manuel Neuer.