As far as head-to- head goes the French have W12 while Germany has W9, yet France has never beaten the Germans in a final tournament meeting of any consequence.

However, it should be noted that when Germany faced Italy in their last game, they had never beaten the Italians in a major tournament either.

The French became unbeaten in eight games with their win over Iceland and if they make the final and win it will be the first time they have been crowned European Champions since 2000.

Germany conceded their first goal of the tournament when Italy equalised with a second-half penalty in their quarter-final match and with this their 12th successive European Tournament you have to look back to 1996 in England to see when they were last crowned champions.

When it comes to penalty shoot-outs, the French record stands at W3-L3 while the Germans are W6-L1.

FRANCE

For a lot of punters, they are the tournament favourites with the home advantage in their favour and although they beat Iceland 5-2 their defensive frailties were exposed.

It could be argued that the game was already over by then and France had taken their foot off the gas, but whatever your opinion you know Germany have been working on how to exploit this.

France has also been a tad weak at set pieces, so we expect Germany to have been out on the training pitch practising that aspect of their game too.

However, the French have match winners in the likes of Giroud and Payet and we expect the French to counter- attack the Germans playing style.

In N’Golo Kanté they have a quality midfield player who will attempt to break down the Germans free playing style. Kanté is such great player at breaking down the opposition that Argentina captain Juan Pablo Sorín calls him “Pac-Man’ as he gobbles up attacks.

With Pogba in fine form too, this could be an integral battle area for both sides with the victor of the midfield skirmishes potentially off to the final.

Oh, and did we mention striker Griezmann and his four goals? Put him into the pot plus France peaking at the best possible time and we believe the French will march on to Paris for the Final against Wales.

GERMANY

Germany’s top scorer with two goals and only out-and- out striker Mario Gomez is out of the semi-final with torn muscle fibres. With Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira both rated as doubtful to play and Mats Hummels suspended you could say that the Germans are in a bit of a pickle.

However, as we noted before this is Germany and while French fans leap up and down at their rival’s misfortune, they should be aware that the German side that takes the field could still contain seven players that beat Brazil 7-1 in the 2014 World Cup semi-final.

What about their record at eliminating nine tournament hosts in the World Cup and European competitions? Feeling a little bit nervous?

This is the German juggernaut, rolling over all before it as it has done so many times in the past. No one wants to meet Germany before the Final, in fact, they don’t fancy meeting them in the Final either.

However, this is why we are picking the French to win this game as we believe the depleted Germans will just not be the same.

With Payet becoming one of the players of the tournament it will be a moment of genius from him, from a free kick, which will give France the win.

Boy, that’s a big call. Oh well!

TopBetta Tournament Betting

FRANCE TO WIN 2-1 @ $23 – The French will go behind 1-0 to the Germans after 45 minutes then after a typical Gallic passionate team talk at half-time will come out guns firing. Payet to score the winner with a sublime free kick to make it 2-1.

GERMANY/FRANCE HT/FT @ $26 – Look we are putting our necks on the line here, but we just feel the patriotic crowd, the German injuries and added adrenalin of getting through to a Final will see the French boys through.

This article first appeared on TopBetta HERE.