Germany’s players have very different fitness levels ahead of their Nations League opener against Spain on Thursday and will struggle to last 90 minutes due to the fragmented end to the previous season across Europe, coach Joachim Loew said.

“The situation that we have here is that there are a lot of differences between players,” Loew told a news conference.

“Some have been training for some weeks but have no match practice. Others just finished playing in the Champions League and the Europa League. Others are just back from holidays that were short. I don’t think players will last over 90 minutes at a high pace.”

Elsewhere, Kevin de Bruyne may miss Belgium’s opening game against Denmark on Saturday with his wife set to give birth to their third child, team officials said on Wednesday.

De Bruyne did not join up with the rest of the squad when they assembled in Belgium on Tuesday to prepare for matches in Copenhagen and then Iceland in Brussels next Tuesday.

De Bruyne has permission to stay with his family and his participation will depend on the birth, added a Belgian football association spokesman.