Bulgaria's former national football team coach Lothar Matthaeus believes Germany are the strong favorites to win Euro 2012.

"I am saying this not just because I am German. Germany coach Joachim Loew manages a young and balanced team, which has piled a lot of experience. This is that we lacked two years ago at the World Championship in South Africa – experience," the former coach of the Bulgarian team wrote in a commentary for 24 Hours daily.

"Germany has no superstars, nor football players who think they are football stars. This is good because it makes the team easier to manage and also more stable. The downside is that it is easily predictable. And this is where the coach comes into the picture," he added.

Earlier in the week Argentina football legend Diego Maradona made the same forecast.

Maradona has argued that the loss of striker David Villa and defender Carles Puyol will deal a serious blow to Spain's bid to defend their 2008 title, while Joachim Low's side has what it takes to win the tournament.

"Germany, my tournament favorites, won every game of qualification with [Miroslav] Klose, [Lukas] Podolski and [Thomas] Muller up front and the young midfielders [Mesut] Ozil and [Sami] Khedira," Maradona has told The Times of India.

He reckons that Bastian Schweinsteiger and his side should be able to ease through Group B.

Spain and the will also cruise into the quarter-finals, according to Maradona.

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