"Germany are like Real Madrid in the Champions League"

In comments to 'Sport Buzzer', Qatar SC player Javi Martinez, spoke about Spain's 7-0 thrashing against Costa Rica in their 2022 World Cup opener. 

"I was surprised they played so well against Costa Rica. I was expecting a win, but not 7-0. In Spain, everyone says we are world champions because of that good match," he said while laughing. Spain have to keep calm, it's a long tournament. But when a result like that comes along, there's lots of euphoria," the former Spain player said. 

In addition, the 34 year-old footballer, who was at Athletic Bilbao and Bayern Munich, also wanted to talk about the match-up between Spain and Germany. "It's difficult for Spain to do that. Costa Rica are a weak team at the tournament, but Spain will try and play the same way they did against Costa Rica. It will be a fight. The key will be who can have more of the ball. It's a final for Germany, who have to win. That makes it difficult for Spain because Germany have a good team. Hansi is a good coach who knows exactly what did not work against Japan."

"Germany don't have typical strikers. Kai Havertz is a great player, but not like Mario Gomez or Miroslav Klose. Havertz is top, but he cannot play this role. A team only needs a striker who can keep the central defenders busy and do well with long balls. Thomas Muller is better when he does not play as a striker. He has to play behind the striker, sometimes on the left, other times on the right. He's an intelligent player who knows where he can hurt his opponent," he added.

Finally, the former Bayern man revealed the teams he believes are most likely to win the World Cup: "Before the first match, I said Argentina. It can happen that you lose the first match. We lost it in the World Cup in South Africa as well, and despite that, we won the World Cup. I would say Argentina and Germany, to be honest. Germany are like Real Madrid in the Champions League. They're always there."