Low: We were the better team
Germany manager Joachim Low has insisted that his side were the better team as they were defeated 2-0 by France in Thursday's Euro 2016 semi-final.
Joachim Low has claimed that his team were extremely unlucky not to reach the final of Euro 2016 as they crashed out of the competition, losing 2-0 to France.
Low believes that his team were unlucky with regards to the penalty decision for France's first goal.
"Too many things went wrong but I must give a great compliment to the team, we were the better side. We gave a lot and had a body language of power. It was unfortunate that we conceded the goal, that was bad luck, the ball touched the hand a minute before half-time."
The Germany manager feels as though it was different to previous major tournaments, where Germany where eventually beaten by "better sides" in his opinion.
"We had our chances, regretfully we didn't score. We didn't have the luck we needed but in 2012 [European Championship semi-final loss to Italy] or 2010 [World Cup semi-final loss to Spain] when we went out, the side that beat us were better than us.
"Today that wasn't the case, we were better than the French."
The 56-year-old also thought that his side performed admirably, despite many key players being unavailable for the tie.
"There were injured players like Khedira and Gomez, Hummels was suspended and that's not easy to compensate for.
"Jerome Boateng had to leave the pitch and we were weaker after that, that's four important players we didn't have but the team did everything I told them, we were very brave so there's nothing to blame them for."
What next for Joachim Low?