Poland restricted Germany to a goalless draw in Group C at Euro 2016 on Thursday night, but Arkadiusz Milik missed two golden opportunities in a game that would have seen the winner secure a last-16 spot in France.

The two nations have been made to wait for progression into the final eight, which has been shaken up by Northern Ireland's 2-0 victory over Ukraine earlier today.

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The world champions had the majority of possession in the early stages of the game as they tried to break through a well-organised and compact Polish team at the Stade de France in Paris.

Mario Gotze almost found a way through in the fifth minute when Julian Draxler curled the ball into the box, and the Bayern Munich man got on the end of it, but his header dropped beyond the crossbar.

Draxler was involved again a few minutes later when he squared the ball to Jonas Hector, who went for glory, but his attempt towards the far post drifted wide.

Toni Kroos had an opportunity to score from 15 yards out when Thomas Muller used his strength to dip into the box before pulling the ball back to his teammate.

However, the Real Madrid midfielder could not stretch far enough to get power behind his strike and the ball ended up falling wide of the target.

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As mentioned, Germany controlled possession and had showed promising movement, but Poland displayed a threat on the counter-attack.

Milik linked up well with Robert Lewandowski in the first half, and on one occasion played the ball towards his teammate, who picked it up on the edge of the box before firing a shot, but Benedikt Howedes made a crucial block.

The closest that Germany came to scoring in the first half was when Gotze hit the post from just outside the box, but Muller, who laid the ball off for the 23-year-old, was offside when he received the pass from Sami Khedira.

As the half went on, Poland grew more comfortable and Lewandowski would have been through on goal with one minute to half-time if he had not stepped offside when picking up Milik's pass.

After the break, Poland squandered an opportunity to take the lead when Milik fluffed an attempt from close range, which was put on a plate for him from Kamil Grosicki.

The forward needed to just nudge the ball past Manuel Neuer with his foot, but he instead dropped down to head it and as a result failed to connect.

Seconds later at the other end, Gotze fired straight at goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski from around eight yards out after latching on to the end of Kroos's low pass.

The game opened up as the minutes ticked by, and Milik had another chance to break the deadlock as Poland carried out a free kick straight from the training ground.

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Lewandowski stood over the ball, but instead of striking it himself, he knocked it a yard to the left for Milik, who smashed a shot but it fell inches wide of the post.

Milik was left to rue another opportunity later in the half when Grosicki pulled the ball back for the forward in the middle of the 18-yard box, but he completely missed the ball and ended up taking a swing at the air.

Immediately Ozil tried to punish Poland with a sweeping strike of his own, but Fabianski managed to get his right palm on the ball to tip it over the bar.

Both sides had chances to find an all-important goal, but it was not to be as the two nations shared a point, meaning that the last-16 spots will be decided in the final round of group matches.

Written by
Danielle Joynson