France ready to test weakened Germans

A French side that has started life in promising fashion under Didier Deschamps will pose a serious test to Germany on Wednesday, with the visitors arriving in the French capital deprived of a host of leading players.

This encounter has been shoe-horned into a busy period of the club season, with the Champions League and Europa League knockout stages set to begin next week.

It was no great surprise, then, to see leading German players such as Bayern Munich's Bastian Schweinsteiger and Borussia Dortmund trio Marcel Schmelzer, Marco Reus and Mario Goetze pull out of the game before the squad left Frankfurt for Paris.