You can see the sparkle in everyone's eyes. We are a bit more carefree'

Klara Bühl on why Germany can go one step further than 2022 and how England may struggle to defend their title

- Marcus Christenson Miranda Homberg

Maybe I did the homework, but maybe I didn't - the important thing was to get out on the pitch again." Klara Bühl is describing her time at school when she would come home, eat, possibly do some schoolwork before heading out again.

"Football was everything for me. We played at school and then next to the school there was a small astro pitch. I played there until training began at five o'clock and so it was every afternoon."

Bühl is one of Europe's best, a left-winger who is as two-footed as she is electric. The Bayern Munich player is in form, without any injury concerns and looking forward to the Euros. "You can see the sparkle in everyone's eyes. We are ready," she says.

At 24, Bühl is reaching her peak years and believes her skills were honed during that formative period in Münster. "I learned everything I can there," she says. "Shooting, with both my feet, dribbling because it was so small and also how to push through because I was always the youngest - and the only girl there."

At the start of the year the Germany coach, Christian Wück, spoke about Bühl's capabilities with both feet, which makes her incredibly difficult to defend against. "I don't know anyone who is as two-footed as she is," he said. "For her it makes no difference if she takes a free-kick with her left or her right. There are only a few players, in men's or women's football, who are capable of doing that."

So where did that come from?

"My brother, who is a year and a half older than me, was left-footed and there aren't that many left-footed players so I simply thought it was a bit cooler," she says. "I was 10 or 12 so I thought about it and decided I would rather be left-footed. There were a few months when I went to training and just did everything with my left."