EURO 2016 Semi-Final Head-to-Head: Mesut Ozil (Germany) vs Dimitri Payet (France)

Euro 2016 hosts France face world champions Germany in a mouthwatering second semi-final on Thursday night.

The first match had the intriguing match up between Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, while this one, has a plethora of players to choose from.

Dimtri Payet of France and Mesut Ozil of Germany were two of the stars of the 2015/16 Premier League season, and the pair have taken their form to the European Championship finals.

West Ham’s Payet was the match-winner in the opening game of Euro 2016, scoring a fantastic, last-gasp effort to beat Romania 2-1. In the next game, the diminutive attacking midfielder doubled his goal tally in second-half injury time, scoring the second goal to put Albania to the sword. His third goal came just before half-time, in a 5-2 thriller against Iceland in the quarter-finals.

Ozil’s Germany on the other hand, have stuttered a little. A 2-0 win against Ukraine was followed by a 0-0 draw against Poland, and their third group game ended in a narrow 1-0 win against Northern Ireland.

In the knockout stage of the tournament, Joachim Low’s side overpowered Slovakia 3-0 to face a stubborn Italy side in the last eight. Ozil’s first goal in the Euros came against the Azzurri, as he arrived late in the box to slot the ball into the bottom left-hand corner, past a despairing Gianluigi Buffon. The game ended 1-1 in 90 minutes and it took four Italians to fluff their lines from the spot in order for the Germans to proceed.

Shoot takes a closer look at the two attacking midfielders…