EURO 2020: Germany already on the back foot after losing opener to France

Mats Hummels’ own goal gave France the 1-0 Group F win and leaves Germany in need of points from its last two matches against holder Portugal on Saturday and Hungary next week.

Germany's Toni Kroos looks dejected after the match against France.

Germany already has its back to the wall at Euro 2020 after its opening loss to world champion France on Tuesday but it is confident there will be no a repeat of its shock first round exit at the last World Cup.

Defender Mats Hummels’ first-half own goal gave France the 1-0 Group F win and leaves three-time champion Germany in need of points from its last two matches against holder Portugal on Saturday and Hungary next week, with both games in Munich again.

"This defeat is very painful, especially for me as my own goal decided the game," said Hummels, who was recalled to the squad for the tournament after having been dropped more than two years ago.

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"We obviously know full well that there is room for improvement in our game. But you could see that we want to fight really hard in this tournament, that we want to excite you (the fans) and be successful."

The Germans certainly lacked fighting spirit in Russia three years ago when they were sensationally eliminated in the first round of the World Cup after losing their opening game to Mexico and managing just one win from three group games.

On Tuesday the team was up against arguably the most complete team in the world and worked hard until the end to try to turn the game around and avoid a first ever defeat in a Euro opener.

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While it again struggled to carve out clear scoring chances it did deliver a solid second-half performance, earning some praise from German media.

The tournament format with three group matches means that one win could be enough to advance to the knockout stage and midfielder Toni Kroos said there was no point dwelling on the defeat.

"We have to look ahead now," he said. "Obviously when you lose the first game and you only have three then the pressure is always great."

How coach Joachim Loew's team handle this pressure against Portugal might decide its fate.

For midfielder Joshua Kimmich, Germany showed in the defeat to France that it can compete with the best.

"What we did was we showed that we can certainly keep up with top teams at this level," Kimmich said.

"France are one of the title contenders. In the next game we have to show that we also are one of the title contenders."