Sarina Wiegman has told England's silky-skilled Lionesses to be on their guard for a physical battle from Germany in the Euro 2022 final.
The England boss has won all 11 of her European Championship matches as a manager, including her run to glory in charge of the Netherlands five years ago.
Arguably the ultimate test awaits on Sunday at Wembley, though, as England tackle eight-time champions Germany.
The fearsome Alexandra Popp leads the Germany attack, having grabbed two brilliant poacher's finishes against France in the semi-final to match Beth Mead's tournament-leading six-goal haul.
Both Popp goals came from crosses, and Wiegman suspects Germany will often look to take a direct route to the heart of England's defence, where Millie Bright and Leah Williamson stand to face their toughest test of the tournament.
"At some point it might be a little physical," Wiegman said in a news conference on Saturday. "Germany can play very direct. That's what we expect."
Hosts England have played some of the most attractive football on their way through to a first European final since 2009, when they were walloped 6-2 by Germany in Helsinki.
Wiegman believes her players can unlock a German defence that has conceded just once so far – an unlucky own goal in the France game.
"We did see some things we might want to exploit," Wiegman said, "but we'll see that tomorrow. This is what we expected to come up against, a team playing their best football, and luckily we're playing ours."
Asked whether she considered Germany to be the strongest team in the tournament, Wiegman said: "I think we have a very good team too and we don't fear anyone."
England have practised penalties, should they come into play, and Wiegman says the camp has been "pretty calm" ahead of the sellout game that is set to see the biggest crowd at any European Championship match, men's or women's.
Wiegman said she understood why the game was being spoken of as "a fairy tale fixture", given the footballing rivalry between the nations, but she is plainly not interested in such narratives.
Captain Williamson was reminded that Sunday would mark 10 years since Great Britain beat Brazil 1-0 at Wembley in an Olympic Games match, with Steph Houghton scoring the only goal that day.
Houghton went on to become England's skipper in 2014, and Williamson inherited the armband ahead of this tournament, marking a major step in her career, one she cannot have envisaged when she was in the crowd as a 15-year-old for that Brazil game.
Williamson said her parents "put women's football in front of my face" by taking her to Wembley for the Olympics match, and she predicted this weekend's final would be an occasion to match it.
England will have the overwhelming majority of supporters, but Germany boss Martina Voss-Tecklenburg is convinced her side can come out on top.
"We don't want to lose it, but in life you lose games and you have to cope with that. If the opponent is better tomorrow then we'll congratulate them fairly, but we're not planning to lose," Voss-Tecklenburg said.
Germany winger Svenja Huth, whose deliveries were converted to deadly effect by Popp in the France game, is aware of the "hype" surrounding the team back home as a potential ninth European title comes into view.
Huth stressed she and Germany would not be distracted by fervent English support.
Speaking at Wembley, Huth added: "The stadium is very impressive even when it is empty. So 90,000 people will be there tomorrow. Most of them will probably be against us and we are aware of that and it can be something good and nice as well."
Saudi Pro League: Mahrez and Firmino on target as Al-Ahli tighten grip on third place
Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino were both on target as Al-Ahli tightened their grip on third place in the Saudi Pro League table with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday.
Matthias Jaissle's team were four goals up within just 25 minutes as Damac folded, Ziyad Al Johani and Feras Al Brikan netting their first two before Franck Kessie was felled by Dhari Al Anazi for a penalty, converted by Mahrez.
Firmino then tapped home a fourth after being teed up by former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the break, but Al-Ahli took their foot off the gas from there, Domagoj Antolic's second-half consolation rounding off the scoring.
Elsewhere, 10-man Al-Riyadh scored two stoppage-time draws to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Al-Fateh in Al-Mubarraz.
Goals from Djaniny and former Columbus Crew star Lucas Zelarayan put Slaven Bilic's hosts on the brink of victory, with Al-Riyadh playing almost half the game a player down after Khalid Al Shuwayyi's 54th-minute red card.
An astonishing collapse denied them, however, with Mohammed Al Shwirekh halving the arrears one minute into stoppage time before Didier Ndong headed in a left-wing cross three minutes later.
Thursday's other game saw Al-Hazm and Al-Akhdoud play out a goalless draw, keeping the hosts bottom of the table while Al-Akhdoud inched two points clear of the relegation zone.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
Former Spain boss Del Bosque to oversee RFEF
Former Spain boss Vicente del Bosque will oversee a new committee supervising the RFEF.
Spain, which is due to be one of six host countries for the 2030 World Cup, announced the creation of a special committee until the federation holds elections to replace Luis Rubiales.
That is despite Pedro Rocha having this week been appointed as Rubiales' replacement, though he himself is under investigation amid a corruption probe.
Rubiales was dismissed following his unsolicited kiss on Jenni Hermoso during the Women's World Cup trophy ceremony in 2023.
The federation's former president was then arrested in early April as part of a corruption investigation.
Del Bosque led Spain to three consecutive trophies, winning the European Championships in 2008 and 2012, while also leading the team to their first World Cup success in 2010.
Prior to his time with the national team, he also won two Champions Leagues and two LaLiga titles while in charge of Real Madrid, where he made over 400 appearances as a player.
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