Euro 2024: Germany Crushed At Home By Late Mikel Merino Goal, Spain In Semis (Image: x.com/EURO2024)
Germany has been knocked out of the Euro 2024 at home by a late Mikel Merino goal. Spain got through the semifinals after a match of the matches.
In a match that showcased all the elements of knockout football, the tension reached a knife edge when Bundesliga player of the season Florian Wirtz equalized in the 89th minute for the Germans. The pressure have been bubbled over for 120 minutes for all those watching the quarterfinals that was being played at Stuttgart Arena, as the two best teams of the tournament locked horns for a do or die battle as the sun was about to set in Germany’s southwest.
Germany was on the verge of becoming the first host country to exit in the quarterfinals after RB Leipzig attacking midfielder Dani Olmo scored Spain’s first goal in the second half. The agony deepened for the Germans, one of the most successful sides in modern international football, when Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal set up Dani Olmo in the 51st minute. Notably, German keeper Manuel Neuer is twice the age and has double the experience of 16-year-old Yamal.
And till 89th minute, it looked like the host nation has gone out of the tournament. But, the equaliser happened and Germany was back in the game, like they were before Olmo goal. But, the most important thing about the Germans was their fighting spirit. They never let the game go to Spain even after the critical goal at the 51st minute.
The match, that has seen at least 13 yellow cards, was one of most well fought matches of the tournament. The names those were wrote on the yellow register included Rodri, Dani Carvajal, Florian Wirtz, Nico Schotterbeck, Unai Simon, Ferran Torres, Maximillion Mittelstadt, Toni Kroos, Rbert Andrich, Robin Le Normand, David Raum, Antonio Rudiger and Deniz Undav.
The man who deserves much credit for the Spanish resistance is La Roja’s goalkeeper, Unai Simon of Athletic Bilbao. Former Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla manager Luis de la Fuente packed his team with talents he had familiarized himself with and nurtured during his tenure with Spain’s youth teams from 2013 to 2022. But, what Julian Nagelsmann brought into Stuttgart was not in the training book of de la Fuente. The Germans, was out there will all out of syllabus ideas.
