Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 8y

Jerome Boateng confident of regaining fitness for Germany vs. Italy

Germany centre-back Jerome Boateng is confident he will be ready to take part in his team's quarterfinal against Italy on Sunday, despite receiving treatment for his calf injury again on Monday.

Boateng, 27, was back with the medical staff on Monday but did not want to blow his minor injury out of proportion, and told kicker that he had plenty of time to be ready for the Italy match.

"I feel pretty okay. It's not perfect yet," he said. "But I have enough time until Saturday."

As Germany's substitutes, alongside those players yet to make appearances in the tournament,  completed a training session at their tournament base in Evian on Monday, the players who started against Slovakia took some time off to recharge their batteries.

On Tuesday, all of the German squad has been granted a day off before the national team begin their preparations for the quarterfinal against Italy in Bordeaux.

With most players this tournament fully fit only Boateng -- one of the stars of the 2016 Euro so far -- is facing a race against time to get over his calf injury until the Italy clash.

The Bayern Munich defender was on target to score in the 3-0 win against Slovakia on Sunday, and later thanked Germany's medical staff for going "full throttle" to prepare him for the round-of-16 tie amid ongoing calf problems.

^ Back to Top ^