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Germany vs Poland - Jerome Boateng ready to face familiar foe

Thursday, June 16, 2016 Source: PA

Jerome Boateng will come up against a familiar face when Germany take on Poland.

The defender will be facing one of the world's finest strikers in the shape of Robert Lewandowski, his club-mate at Bayern Munich.

Boateng knows only too well the threat Lewandowski - who scored 13 goals in qualifying for Poland - poses but insists their Group C opponents are no one-man team.

"They have several talented attackers, not only Lewandowski," he told UEFA.com.

"We know each other very well, but I don't think either of us will be able to use this to their advantage."

Poland and Germany met twice in qualifying, with one victory apiece as the World Cup holders topped the group by a point.

"We know them well from our two qualifiers," added Boateng. "Both games against Poland were not easy."

Boateng's acrobatic goal-line clearance helped Germany to three points from their opening game against Ukraine.

Yet the man who opened the scoring, Shkodran Mustafi, could find himself out of the team now Mats Hummels is fit.

But Mustafi said: "I am not doing any calculations - I was never good at maths anyway.

"I only focus on the things I can influence which is my training performance. I will be there if the coach and the team need me.

"There was not much time to enjoy my goal and the three points. It doesn't matter that we know the Polish players well. It is no secret that they have quality players."

Poland opened their campaign with a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland to join Germany on three points, and midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak is aiming high.

"We understood that the first match is always very difficult, we were prepared for that," he said.

"The next games will show that we can be even better and go further. We can do a lot, but we shouldn't be overly optimistic having won only the first match. We should stay calm and clinical about things.

"We need to run our socks off, but I'm not hiding the fact we want to win it.

"The players here play at European level for their clubs and are competing for the highest targets. They have the experience to take it forward at the Euros."

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