Muller rooting for Portugal over Spain

By ESPNSTAR.com staff

Only 16 at the time, Muller was not part of the German squad that contested the tournament held in his country. However, he remembers the disappointment he felt after goals from Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero knocked Germany out of the World Cup during their semi-final clash with the Azzurri.

"I watched the game at a big public viewing. It was bitter. Fabio Grosso destroyed the dreams of Germany," Muller stated to the official German FA website.

The two countries have met seven times in major tournaments, with the Germans never once emerging victorious. Although Muller admits Germany's record against the Azzurri is not desirable, he believes the current squad will finally make history.

"I know that there have been some famous battles between Germany and Italy but I also know that what happened in the past is irrelevant for the match on Thursday," he said.

"We are on a good run, we showed what we are capable of so far this tournament. And we did it against top teams like Portugal and Netherlands. They were two important games and two great results that we were very happy about. Even against Greece we performed well. It won't be easy against Italy but one can't expect to meet a bad team in the semi-finals of a great tournament."

Casting his eye on the other semi-final fixture between Spain and Portugal, the midfielder revealed that he is rooting for Paulo Bento's men, as he has no wish to come up against the defending champions in the finals of Euro 2012.

"Both Portugal or Spain would be tough nuts to crack. But if I were to pick I would rather not come up against the defending world and European champions. Just because there is still a score to settle [with Spain] doesn't mean we would want to play them. In the world rankings we are right behind them, it is always hard to say who is better or who is worse. We have lost against Spain in our last two matches while against the Portuguese, we showed in the group stage that we can beat them," Muller stated.

"I have already missed out on the Champions League twice and this season I was runner up three times with Bayern. I have had enough of second place."