Lothar Matthaus has declared Joachim Low must "pack his suitcase" and leave his post if Germany fail at the delayed Euro 2020 finals.

Long-serving national coach Low has faced criticism in the wake of the 6-0 defeat to Spain in the Nations League.

Results and performances had been sketchy in the months leading up to November's humiliation in Seville which brought the team's form into sharp focus.

Matthaus, who captained West Germany to 1990 World Cup glory, is now among Germany's leading football pundits and believes Low should not be the only figure to pay the price if Die Mannschaft fail at the European Championship.

Speaking to the Suddeutsche Zeitung, Matthaus said: "If the European Championship does not go as we would like and as we can expect in view of the players, then not only Low would have to pack his suitcase but everyone who decided that he should stay.

"They too have to bear the consequences."

That would mean the senior figures at the German Football Association (DFB) who have thrown their support behind Low, stating after the Spain debacle that one match should not be used as "the benchmark" for the team's overall performance.

Matthaus, 59, contends that 60-year-old Low can no longer get across his message with the same clarity he managed earlier in his tenure.

Low led Germany to World Cup glory in 2014 but his team were eliminated in the group stage at Russia 2018, after which there was a purge of senior players, with Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels discarded. Suggestions they could be recalled have yet to come to fruition.

Matthaus said of Low: "His answers sound a bit like, 'Just let me do it - the rest of you have no idea!'. And then this indifference on the bench, especially against Spain!"

Although Low has helped to create great moments in German sport, Matthaus feels the public have had enough, saying that "the faith of the fans has been lost, and I think the DFB underestimates that".