“Naturally we want and we can win the title,” he said in an interview in the German weekly magazine Focus.

“We’ve got lots of young players blessed with enormous potential, we’ve learned from the mistakes at Euro 2012 and because the international experience we’ve gained will give our ambitious team an extra boost.

“And with the excellent performances of Dortmund, Schalke and Bayern Munich in the Champions League the expectations regarding the Mannschaft have certainly increased.”

Bierhoff reckons coach Joachim Löw has considerable tactical and strategic possibilities with young attacking players like Mario Goetze, Marco Reus, Mesut Özil, Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller and Julian Draxler at his disposal.

Germany can “develop a totally new system based on the successful model of Spain or Barcelona”, he suggested.

AFP/mry