Finland striker Joel Pohjanpalo and Finland coach Hans Backe have described midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger as a "phenomenal" character, ahead of their international friendly on Wednesday.

The match in Moenchengladbach will be a farewell game for the Germany World Cup winner, who is retiring from international duty after the European Championship in France last month.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Hans Backe, Finland coach:

(on Bastian Schweinsteiger)

"Phenomenal character. I mean he has won everything, the Euros, the World Cup, Champions League, I think he's up to around eight Bundesliga titles or something like that and around 120 caps for Germany, captain for Germany, I mean he has won everything. I think it's a phenomenal character, and of course, a very, very good tactical football player."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Joel Pohjanpalo, Finland striker:

(on Bastian Schweinsteiger, who'll be playing his last game for Germany)

"It's a phenomenal career he has played in Bayern and won the world championship and everything and it's important for the German football and it's nice to be one of those players who plays the last game against him and it's a bad thing to say to him that unfortunately they're not going to win, but otherwise I have only good things for him tomorrow."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Joel Pohjanpalo, Finland striker:

(on game against Germany):

"It's a good game for us. It's always nice to play against Germany and the big teams. It's a huge chance for us to show us we are able to play good football against the world's best, and of course an important game for us to train before the game (a World Cup qualifer) on Monday against Kosovo."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Hans Backe, Finland coach:

(on game against Germany)

"That our defence will be tested, we're not naive. We've been lucky this year to play some of the really high profile teams in Europe. We played Poland, Belgium, Italy before the Euros. We could see definitely that we had improved when we played Belgium and Italy. We had a 1-1 game against Belgium, we were winning in the 89th minute. Of course, in both games we had to defend a lot, but I think when we get the chance to play the best ones we need to do it. We will have a lot of answers after every game, about our attacking game, our defence, what we have to improve so I think it will be almost the same type of game as against Belgium and Italy. They will have the possession, we have to defend, the key is then how good are we when we are in possession, when we have breaks and counter-attacks."