Our 3️⃣ points as Germany top Group B with dominant performance | OneFootball

Ruthless Germany crushed Spain with a 2-0 win to top their so-called ‘group of death’ with a game to spare.

The eight-time Euros winners got off to a flying start when Klara Bühl capitalised on a horrendous back pass from Spain’s goalkeeper Sandra Paños.

A follow-up strike from Alex Popp sealed their place in the quarter-final, while Spain will have to play off against Denmark in the final group game.

Possession doesn’t mean prizes

A look at Germany’s stats would lead you to believe that they had been on the losing side this evening.

Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side had just 29% of the possession, made 282 passes to Spain’s 671 and only registered 60% passing accuracy, in contrast to 83% from their opponents.

Yet football matches are won on the number of times you have the ball in the back of the net, and Germany did that twice and Spain…well they didn’t.

Of course, La Roja were without their star forward Alexia Putellas – who ruptured her ACL on the eve of the tournament – but it certainly seemed like they were lacking any kind of cutting edge in the final third.

They now have a crunch game versus Denmark to advance to the quarter-final, while Germany can rest easy, safe in the knowledge that they have already topped Group B.

Spain were on a 24. match unbeaten run, but it just goes to show that the tiki-taka approach doesn’t always work when you face an opponent who converts chances as ruthlessly as Germany do, and especially when you go 1-0 down so early on in the game.

Germany’s sucker punch

Perhaps Germany weren’t talked about as number one favourites to win the tournament, having only made the quarter-finals in Euro 2017.

Yet you can never discount a side that have such a winning pedigree, and having lifted this trophy eight times in the past, they know what it takes to get the job done.

Such heritage allows you the confidence to sit back and soak up the pressure from Spain’s passing game and steal the odd opportunity on the break, knowing that you can make those occasional chances count.

While Spain have proven winners in their side from Barcelona’s impressive treble, they are still lacking that experience of lifting a major trophy.

To make a boxing analogy, Spain made small jabs tonight while Germany landed two knockout blows to seal that all-important victory.

Where was the VAR?

When only Irene Paredes stood in the way of Alex Popp and what looked to be a certain second goal, it certainly looked like she had denied a clear goalscoring opportunity and was about to receive a red card for her efforts.

The referee decided that the challenge was not even a foul, and when replays confirmed that Paredes had a big handful of Popp’s shirt it seemed like this was a classic case of ‘clear and obvious’ error.

But there was to be no word from the VAR official and the decision was allowed to stand.

Germany would have been a lot more upset had the scoreline been different.