Schweinsteiger left 'out of breath' with Euro goal

Lille (France) (AFP) – Bastian Schweinsteiger said that running to celebrate his injury-time goal had left him out of breath as he hailed Germany’s 2-0 win over Ukraine that opened their Euro 2016 campaign on Sunday.

The German skipper came on in the 90th minute in Lille and scored the deciding goal moments later, perfectly meeting Mesut Ozil’s inch-perfect cross from the left.

The 31-year-old midfielder, coming back from a prolonged injury lay-off, said: “Everything is very good. My injury has healed, I feel good.

“I ran so hard in the celebrations that I’m a bit out of breath still. It was amazing for that to happen, it’s the kind of thing you can only wish for, but the most important thing is the team wins,” he told ARD television.

The goal was Schweinsteiger’s first for his country for five years.

“Basti was class when he came on and made the goal, I hope he can play from the start soon,” said goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who made several key saves to keep out Ukraine in the Group C clash.

“We played well and kept up our good standards in defence. We haven’t shown yet everything that we have to show. We will keep improving.”

Defender Shkodran Mustafi, who scored the first goal, added: “It was important to start with a victory, and to stop them from scoring. It was an open game in parts, like you get in England. It went back and forth, which is actually what we didn’t want.”