Jamie lewelling

UEFA Nations League: Ahead of the UEFA Nations League encounter against Italy, Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann is assessing the intermediate status from a football perspective.

"As a coach I say, it's a fifty case while a mathematician might call it nonsense and rate our chances in a possibility calculation higher as we have scored a goal more," the 37-year-old coach said ahead of the second leg of the last-eight ties this Sunday evening in Dortmund. "One Italian goal and things are even," the German coach added.

A record of 15 defeats, 10 wins, and 13 draws might be reason enough to remain calm, despite the 2014 world champion's first victory in 39 years on Italian soil last Thursday. The 2-1 comeback victory in Milan has fueled German ambitions to reach the final-four tournament of the Nations League in Stuttgart and Munich and surpass the 2006 World Champion in FIFA's world ranking list.