Hard-fought win for Germany to reach Euro semis | OneFootball

Another early red card, two goals against them chalked off for offside, missed penalty, a world-class save, depleted squad, superb penalty-kick shootout … and, at long last, Germany are through to semis.

Both coaches made several changes from the teams that started their respective final group stage fixtures. Christian Wück preferred Giovanna Hoffmann for the loan striker role, while Franziska Kett gets her first minutes of the tournament.

France’s coach Laurent Bonadei reintroduced the experienced duo Grace Geyoro and Kadidiatou Diani in the starting XI. However, the ones who made the biggest impact early on were the center-back changes on either side.

Kathrin Hendrich, who was the most experienced German player on the pitch, saw a straight red card for pulling Griedge Mbock’s long hair under no pressure whatsoever. It was rightly a double punishment for Germany as France also awarded a penalty-kick.

For a fraction of a second, Ann-Katrin Berger seemed to save Grace Geyoro’s attempt, but the shot was too strong for her. To add further misery, Germany lost another defender as Sarai Linder was unable to continue the game due to injury.

Yet, they were back in it thanks to Sjoeke Nüsken’s brilliant header from a corner-kick by Klara Bühl. As expected, France were all over ten-woman Germany to regain their lead before the break, but Wück’s side put on a great defensive shift.

The closest Les Bleues came to scoring was when Delphine Cascarino’s cheeky finish was ruled out for offside. However, they didn’t make any changes for the start of the second-half.

Germany, playing a second game straight with one player less, started to lose more ground after the restart. Berger made great saves to deny Cascarino, Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Diani, and Geyoro thought she put them in front once again before the goal was disallowed because of Maëlle Lakrar’s earlier involvement from an offside position.

Similarly, Nüsken had a golden opportunity to score a brace, but she missed a penalty-kick after Selma Bacha fouled the magnificent Brand inside the box. The Chelsea midfielder scored from 12 yards against Denmark, but she joined the long list of players who attempted unsuccessful penalties in this tournament.

However, Germany still managed to take it to extra-time with Berger making more saves in one game than in the three group stage fixtures. She saved her best save for the additional 30 minutes, though. Berger made a remarkable stop that avoided an own-goal from her captain, Janina Minge.

Meanwhile, Peyraud-Magnin only made one save (the penalty) in over 2 hours of football. Wück saved his last substitution for the 120th minute as he brought on Sara Dabritz and Linda Dallmann for the penalty shootout.

However, there was one big moment before we reached there as Melvine Malard hit the crossbar with a long-range effort. Berger started the penalty shootout with the momentum on her side, although it was Peyraud-Magnin who saved one in regular time.

Minge, who nearly scored France's winner, gave Germany a confident start with a confident strike before Amel Majri's strange runup ended up with a save from Berger.

Both teams scored their second kicks through Dallmann and Sakina Karchaoui. When Rebecca Knaak and Malard also did the same with great techniques, it was clear that this isn't going to be a repeat of the England vs. Sweden chaos.

However, Dabritz rattled the crossbar with Germany's first miss in their fourth attempt. Substitute Sandy Baltimore leveled the score heading to the final shots with a beautiful penalty.

Germany's MVP, Berger, then converted Germany's fifth penalty. However, it's 4-4 after five attempts each. And 5-5 after the first tiebreaker. This was the exact opposite to the other quarter-final shootout.

Nüsken, who is Germany's designated penalty-kick taker, was the seventh to take here, but she makes amends with a brilliant finish. And that proved decisive as Berger saved the 21-year-old Alice Sombath's kick to win it for Germany.

Germany will face Spain in Wednesday's semi-final. Their rivalry with France will continue with a two-legged tie awaiting them in October’s Nations League semis.