It’s almost cruel that the two teams that have played the best football at UEFA Euro 2024 will meet only in the quarter-finals and not later, but such is how tournaments play out.

Hosts Germany and Spain have combined for 19 goals thus far and their final-eight clash from Stuttgart on Friday is a mouth-watering one. Still, history is not on the side of either of these two heavyweights.

You can catch Germany vs. Spain LIVE at UEFA Euro 2024 from Stuttgart with coverage getting underway at 11am et/8am pt on TSN1/4, TSN.ca and the TSN App.

The date was June 17, 1988. It was 36 years ago that Germany last beat La Roja at a major tournament. It was the final game of the group stage of Euro 1988 where a Rudi Voller brace gave Germany a 2-0 win in Munich. In the four matches with Spain at World Cups and Euros since then, Germany has lost two and drawn the others. Most recently, Spain and Germany played to a 1-1 draw at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a late Niclas Fullkrug marker cancelling out an earlier Alvaro Morata goal.

Previous results are unlikely to deter Julian Nagelsmann’s team from playing the kind of football that has worked, thus far. Starlets Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz have been everything advertised. Antonio Rudiger and Jonathan Tah have been stout in central defence. Toni Kroos, playing in the last football matches of his illustrious career, has dominated the midfield with precise passing.

Kroos says his team is ready to be great.

"The belief in this team has grown immensely in recent months, because we went through experiences that helped us overcome adversity,” the Real Madrid legend said. “You can see that we believe in ourselves to get through difficult moments and win matches."

Spain will present a different kind of challenge than any faced by the team thus far in the tournament. Their brand of attacking football will call for more defensive responsibility, but the question remains how much will Nagelsmann alter his game plan?

The former Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig boss says he’s more concerned about how his team responds to pressure rather than simple tactical changes.

"There's always room to grow,” Nagelsmann said. “I was very happy with the first 20 minutes [in the 2-0 win over Denmark in the Round of 16], but we have to make sure we don't try to force it, stay patient and keep the ball. If we can keep doing what we did in those first 20 minutes, it will be tough to beat us."

In the other dugout, La Roja boss Luis de la Fuente is expecting a tight contest.

"Germany are a fantastic team, they have some of the best players in the world and they are very organized and disciplined,” the long-time Athletic midfielder said. But they will come up against a team very similar to themselves: very dedicated, very well organized, hard to beat and hungry for success. I know it's a cliche in football, but it's the little details that will decide the outcome."

De la Fuente will be buoyed by how his team responded to adversity in their Round of 16 encounter with Georgia, the Cinderella story of the tournament. It was Georgia who got on the board first through a Robin Le Normand own goal in the 18th. Showing no panic at all, La Roja equalized through Rodri before halftime and got second-half goals from Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams and Dani Olmo for what ended up being a comfortable victory.

"I don't think anyone outside our camp was predicting much for us before the Euro,” 21-year-old Athletic winger Williams said. “We weren't favourites. We don't mind keeping a low profile, day by day, but we're here to do something important."

While both managers will have full complements at their disposals for Friday’s match, each team has a number of players who will need to be mindful of bookings that could rule them out of a semifinal should their team reach it. For La Roja, Le Normand, Dani Carvajal, Alvaro Morata and Daniel Vivian are a caution away from a one-game ban. Rudiger, Maximilian Mittelstadt and the newly purple-haired Robert Andrich are in the same boat for Germany.

One more historical note and this one will provide comfort for Germany – in nine matches played at a World Cup or Euro against a host nation, Spain has never won a single game. They will enter Friday’s match with a record of 0-1-8. Will the 10th time finally be the charm for La Roja?

POTENTIAL SPAIN XI (4-3-3): Unai Simon; Dani Carvajal, Robin Le Normand, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella ; Pedri, Rodri, Fabian Ruiz ; Lamine Yamal, Alvaro Morata, Nico Williams

POTENTIAL GERMANY XI (4-2-3-1): Manuel Neuer; Joshua Kimmich, Antonio Rudiger, Jonathan Tah, Maximilian Mittelstadt; Robert Andrich, Toni Kroos; Jamal Musiala, Ilkay Gundogan, Florian Wirtz; Kai Havertz