Antonio Rudiger says France are stronger than Germany only on paper ahead of their Group F Euro 2020 opening tie on Tuesday.
Les Blues are among the favourites for this year’s European Championship.
The reigning FIFA World Cup champions have added Karim Benzema to an already star-studded attack, which includes Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.
Many are tipping Didier Deschamps men to win the competition with their bolstered forward line.
Their group at Euro 2020, though, includes the Germans and Portugal, who won the 2016 competition, beating France in the final, while Hungary make up the numbers.
But Rudiger isn’t paying attention to the hype.
“France look stronger on paper, but that’s just on paper,” Rudiger told a press conference.
“They can be favourites for all I care, they obviously have great forwards. We need to dig deep and show what we’re made of. We’re ready.”
Rudiger, and teammates Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, had a tremendous end to the season with glory in Portugal with Chelsea but he’s insisted all players are going to be import for Joachim Low’s side.
He added: “Whether you’re from Bayern or Chelsea doesn’t matter, every player is important.
“Obviously we had a good end to the season, which can help us here.”