After Gómez impressed in pre-tournament friendlies, Germany head coach Joachim Löw called him up to the German squad for Euro 2008. Löw broke up the strike partnership of Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose, with Podolski moving out to the left wing at the expense of talismanic midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and Gómez partnering Klose up front. Unfortunately, Gómez was not able to reproduce his club form and missed several clear-cut chances, including a crucial one in the last group match against Austria, a performance for which he was criticized by the German media and many fans of "die Nationalmannschaft". Germany eventually won courtesy of a Michael Ballack free-kick to seal a place in the knockout stages, but Löw dropped Gómez to the bench and reverted to the Podolski–Klose partnership. Gómez was an unused substitute in the quarter-final and semi-final and later came off the bench in the final of Euro 2008 for Klose, but could not prevent Germany from losing 1–0 to Spain on 29 June.