MARCO REUS, the Borussia Dortmund forward, has warned that Germany will face a "strong team with a fighting spirit" when they take on Scotland in tomorrow's opening Euro 2016 qualifying match.
Reus, who missed out on his country's World Cup triumph in Brazil due to injury, believes Germany will need to show patience to break down a Scottish side undefeated in their last six matches.
The Germans will look to rebound from Wednesday night's 4-2 friendly defeat by Argentina when they welcome Gordon Strachan and his players to Reus' home stadium, Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park. They are expected to welcome back central defender Jerome Boateng for the match but will still be without midfield pair Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira in a starting line-up likely to show five changes from the side that defeated Argentina in the World Cup final two months ago.
"They have not lost for six straight games and they are a strong team with a fighting spirit," said Reus. "Scotland close down spaces quickly and so we will need patience and need to be much better than against Argentina. We need to be more effective in front of goal. Scotland are strong, they have a leader in Darren Fletcher, and they are very quick in attack. What is needed from us is patience and we are fully aware of that."
On Boateng, Andreas Koepke, Germany's goalkeeping coach, added: "Jerome will be back, he is more or less certain to play. These last two days will show what changes or if any there will be in defence. Jerome will return and some things will change but who will be on the left or on the right is something I cannot say."
The Dortmund pair of Erik Durm and Kevin Grosskreutz are expected to start in the full-back positions. Durm, who struggled against Argentina in midweek, has been capped only twice at international level, while the versatile Grosskreutz has only six appearances, half of which came in attack.
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