The match was a tough one-on-one affair from the start, and referee Anthony Taylor showed 15 yellow cards and one yellow-red card. Germany were lucky not to have lost Kroos early on, who played his last game as a result of Germany’s elimination, after a tough tackle on Pedri.

Dani Olmo scored the 1-0 in the 51st minute after a weak first half by Spain, which Florian Wirtz was only able to equalize in the 89th minute. In extra time, everything seemed to point to a penalty shootout when Mikel Merino put Spain into the semifinals and Germany out of the game with a wonderful header in the 119th minute. In the semifinals, Spain will face France, who beat Portugal 5-3 in the evening match after a goalless extra time.

AP/Manu Fernandez With the defeat, one of the best German footballers left the big football stage forever

Hard entry

ORF co-commentator Helge Payer said at the start of the match that the Spanish were “resistant to pressure” but were not immune to fouls, and Germany immediately showed that they wanted to take the edge off their opponents. Kroos let Pedri fall to the sword, but did not even receive a yellow card from referee Taylor. ORF referee expert Thomas Steiner also believes this was a wrong decision.

Many fouls in the early stages

Kroos let Pedri jump over the sword, but did not even receive a yellow card from referee Taylor.

Shortly afterwards, Ilkay Gündogan followed suit and was not cautioned either, while Spain’s top talent Pedri limped off the pitch in the eighth minute with an injury to his left knee. Taylor then pulled out the first yellow card in the 13th minute, banning Antonio Rüdiger from a possible semi-final.

Germany controls Spain

After the initial excitement had died down, Germany controlled the game with a little more possession, but there were no big chances on either side. In the 21st minute, Kai Havertz headed the ball into the hands of Unai Simon. Before that, young star Lamine Yamal had tried their luck with a free kick and Fabian Ruiz had tried their luck for Spain.

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The game then went back and forth between the penalty areas without any clear chances before Nico Williams broke through on the left and tested Manuel Neuer in the German goal with his shot from the short corner, but Neuer passed the test with flying colors. All neutral observers of the game went into the break slightly disappointed by what had been on offer.

Spaniards gladly accept German invitation

“The Germans are doing well, the Spanish have disappointed me so far,” said ÖFB sports director Peter Schöttel in the ORF EM studio. “The Germans did very, very well tactically and closed down the spaces well. The Spanish did not get into the game,” agreed ORF expert Viktoria Schnaderbeck.

Spain – Germany: 1:0 Olmo (52.)

The German defenders left their opponents far too much space during the 1-0 win.

That Spain had planned more for the second half became obvious in the 52nd minute, when Dani Olmo made perfect use of a pass from Yamal to make it 1-0. The goal came almost at the invitation of the German defense, which completely failed to attack the opposing players in this situation.

Nagelsmann brings fresh forces

Julian Nagelsmann reacted and brought on striker Niclas Füllkrug instead of Gündogan, and Maximilian Mittelstädt came on instead of David Raum. At half-time, Emre Can and Leroy Sane were replaced by Robert Andrich and Florian Wirtz. This left Nagelsmann with only one substitution option for the last half hour.

Spain – Germany: Füllkrug hits the post (77.)

Niclas Füllkrug hits the post while falling.

After that, the German game came alive again thanks to the changes. Simon was at his post when Andrich shot (70th minute). The best chance to equalize came in the 77th minute when Füllkrug shot, which the Dortmund striker hit the post as he fell after a cross pass from Wirtz. The team and fans were given renewed hope when Nagelsmann brought Thomas Müller into the game.

Wirtz extends the game

Finally, it was Wirtz who, after a header from Joshua Kimmich, sent the ball with his right foot into the left corner, from where the ball went over the line via the inside post to make it 1:1 (89th minute). Germany’s final offensive against a somewhat too passive Spaniard was rewarded, and the fans of the DFB team were able to continue dreaming of their European Championship dream. The game went into extra time.

Spain – Germany: 1:1 Wirtz (89.)

Wirtz was in the right place to equalize after a header from Kimmich and redeemed football Germany with the goal to make it 1:1.

The first few minutes of extra time belonged to Germany, but as the game went on, Spain took control and tried to find a gap. The game remained a battle of the two teams, giving each other nothing. Wirtz then had the chance to make it 2-1, but his shot spun just past the right post.

Merino shocks Germans

Füllkrug fired a shot with his left foot past the goal (109′). Then Jamal Musiala hit Spain’s Marc Cucurella on the forearm in the penalty area (106′). To the annoyance of all those who supported Germany, the VAR did not intervene. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

Reuters/Lee Smith The scene that outraged football Germany: Cucurella is hit in the hand by a Musiala shot

A spectacular diving header from Füllkrug was saved by a brilliant save from Simon (117th minute). Mikel Merino, who came on as a substitute in the 80th minute, produced an even better header, shocking all the fans of the German team.

The Real Sociedad man perfectly curled a precise cross from the right by Olmo past Neuer into the goal. Rüdiger was poorly positioned and could only watch the ball. In the 119th minute, Germany’s fate at the European Championships at home was sealed.

AP/Ariel Schalit With a textbook header, Mikel Merino ended the home European Championship for Germany in the 119th minute

A Füllkrug shot narrowly missed the Spanish goal and Dani Carvajal received a second yellow card. Taylor blew the whistle and the fact remained that Germany had not won a competitive match against Spain in 36 years and that Kroos’ great career had officially come to an end.

Voices about the game:

Dani Olmo (Spain goalscorer): “Overwhelming. What joy! The victory belongs to all of us. The team comes first. The heart is always more important than the legs. We have to take this calmly and cautiously, the semi-final is in four days. We can be happy, celebrate, but modestly.”

Mikel Merino (Spain goalscorer): “I’m exhausted, to be honest. It was a unique moment. When they equalised in the 90th minute, it was a setback. But we got our reward and I think we deserved it. It was the game we all expected, between two of the best teams in the tournament. It could have been a World Cup final or a European Championship final. The level of the players on the bench is very high. We showed that we can suffer, that we are a great team.”

Toni Kroos (Germany player): “I think we can all be proud because we have all done a lot better than before. I am happy if I have helped a little to ensure that we all in Germany have the ambition and hope to progress. I am confident that the team will achieve this in the future. But it is also part of the fact that we are all sad today. This dream that we all had has now been shattered, even if we will realise in the next few days that we played a good tournament. When you are so close, that is what is extremely bitter.”

Julian Nagelsmann (Germany coach): “I’m fighting back tears. The boys have really put in a lot in the last six weeks. Today they lost undeservedly. We reacted well at half-time. We were much closer to scoring the winning goal than the Spaniards. In the end we weren’t necessarily better, but we were a bit clearer when it came to finishing. We have awakened something in a country that is sinking too much into sadness. We had a great symbiosis with the people in the country, we got people back in front of the TV to watch football who hadn’t done so in the past. But we would have liked to have done it for a week longer.”

UEFA Euro 2024, first quarter-final

Freitag:

Spain – Germany 2:1 aet (1:1 0:0)

Stuttgart, 54,000 spectators, SR Taylor (ENG)

Torfolge:
1:0 ( 51.) Olmo
1:1 ( 89.) Wirtz
2:1 (119.) Merino

Spain: Simon – Carvajal, Le Normand (46./Nacho), Laporte, Cucurella – Rodri, Ruiz (102./Joselu) – Yamal (63. F. Torres), Pedri (8./Olmo), N. Williams (80./Merino) – Morata (80./Oyarzabal)

Deutschland: Neuer – Kimmich, Rüdiger, Tah (80./Müller), Raum (57./Mittelstädt) – Kroos, Can (46./Andrich) – Sane (46./Wirtz), Gündogan (57./Füllkrug), Musiala – Havertz (91./Anton)

Yellow-red card: Carvajal (120.+6/foul play)

Yellow cards: Le Normand, Morata (both suspended in the semi-final), F. Torres, Simon, Rodri, Ruiz and Rüdiger, Andrich, Mittelstädt, Raum, Kroos, Wirtz, Schlotterbeck (substitute), Undav (substitute)

2024-07-05 18:59:51
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