Germany winger Lukas Podolski has stated that the new Euro format is a bit confusing for the team.

Indeed, UEFA has increased the number of teams taking part in the tournament from 16 to 24 and Podolski believes that this has created more confusion.

Contrary to past tournaments where the first two teams of each group were qualified for the knock-out stage, this year’s Euro also allow four best third-placed teams to qualify for the next round. Lukas Podolski said that this is a bit confusing as the teams that are already qualified had to wait for a long time before discovering their opponents.

He said that he is fine with the idea that UEFA wants to increase the number of teams participating in the tournament, but they need to find a way to make it simpler. He said that the changes made to the system are stupid and that it takes too long to discover which team you will be facing. For Lukas Podolski, the system at the moment is too complicated, and that teams do not have enough time to prepare their games.

He said that it is strange that teams that have lost their first two games in the group stage still manage to make it to the knock-out stage. However, this does not apply to Germany as they managed to qualify as winners of the group and will be facing Italy in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Podolski believes that his team has an excellent chance of making it to the final, but they will need each player to be committed and to give everything they can in order to win the game. He knows that it will not be easy against Italy and that they should be prepared for a fight.