Spain dig deep to earn dramatic extra-time Euro victory over Germany

STUTTGART – Spain coach Luis de la Fuente lavished praise on his young side after their 2-1 extra-time win over hosts Germany on July 5 took them to the Euro 2024 semi-finals.

“This is a winning horse. I’m proud to coach players like this, players who are insatiable. They’re used to competing at the highest level and they have an opportunity to win the tournament,” the 63-year-old coach said.

Spain took the lead early in the second half when Dani Olmo turned in a pass from winger Lamine Yamal. Germany hit back, however, in the penultimate minute of regular time when Florian Wirtz blasted in a Joshua Kimmich knock-down to level the scores and send the match to extra time.

Olmo was again crucial in the 29th minute of extra time, chipping perfectly for Mikel Merino to head home and send his ecstatic teammates sprinting from the bench.

Not among the major favourites before the tournament, Spain are now among the final four and will meet France in the semi-final on July 9 in Munich.

De la Fuente has been employed as a coach across various levels of the Spain national set-up and has mentored several players at younger age groups.

He celebrated the “historic night” and said: “I am proud we are able to represent our country. How far we will get, we will see, but we’re absolutely convinced that we can get very far with this side. We are so happy, but our euphoria is totally under control. We know tomorrow is already another day.”

Match-winner Merino was also full of praise for Spain’s team spirit and deflected compliments away from himself.

“It was me who scored the goal... (but) it was the whole team responsible for it and the effort we put in on the training field and in the gym. These are the moments nobody but us can see,” said the Real Sociedad player.

The clash was littered with yellow cards – 16 bookings from 39 fouls – and punctuated by an early injury to Spain midfielder Pedri and a late sending-off for teammate Dani Carvajal, but the coach said that he did not see it as a dirty contest.

“This is football, I am not afraid of these things – the game is played to the limit. I am not complaining about the toughness of the opposing team. I rather appreciate what we as a team have done,” de la Fuente said.

Pedri’s injury forced his coach into a change in the eighth minute, bringing Olmo, who was named Player of the Match with a goal and an assist, off the bench.

“I’m so proud. What a great team! What joy! But it’s not about me, it’s truly everyone’s tournament. The group is the most important thing,” Olmo told TVE.

“Let’s hope that Pedri’s injury is just a blow because he is very important. This victory is for him. I hurt my calf but I took a gamble and kept on playing. The heart is always more important than the legs.”

It was heartbreak for German fans to see their team exit the Euro, especially as coach Julian Nagelsmann felt Germany were the better side against Spain, and he was bitterly disappointed for his players. after the huge effort they put in.

“The whole game was too open and then, in the second half, we reacted with our personnel in a good way and we came better into the game,” Nagelsmann said.

“After the 60th minute, we were clearly the better team with many clear chances and... (our equaliser) was well deserved. With the exception of the first five minutes of the second half of extra time, it was almost only us who wanted to win.”

Germany had chances to score before Wirtz’s equaliser and after, with Niclas Fullkrug hitting the post, before they were hit by Spain’s sucker punch.

“We had the chances, we missed the goal by only two centimetres, so we were really into the game and then with the last chance we conceded,” Nagelsmann said.

“I don’t know if we opened up too much, if we risked too much. If someone wants to ask me that question, I would say no. But, unfortunately, in that situation we didn’t have enough pressure on the wing and Dani Olmo was able to play this super nice cross.”

Germany’s defeat and exit will be even harder to take, after they were denied what looked like a penalty when the ball struck Marc Cucurella’s hand in extra time.

“I don’t want to talk too much about it, but I want to use this stage here just to talk about football in general also for others maybe,” said 36-year-old Nagelsmann, the youngest coach at a Euro.

“It would be nice if it would be assessed what is the intention behind the ball. This is quite simple, so we should really assess the intention of the shot, where the shot went towards.

“They applied a rule that, finally, wasn’t a penalty. But certainly this wasn’t the only reason why we lost the game.”

Despite the hosts’ exit from the tournament, Nagelsmann was positive about how they approached Euro 2024 and hopes his squad can also be a uniting force in the country.

“What was reproached towards the national team in the past, that they didn’t want to win, that they didn’t show enough will to win, today you couldn’t see that for one second,” he said.

“The players invested everything on the pitch. I said to them they should take that with them, that we are a country where too much is said in too many situations, looking at many situations with a very dark perspective.

“I hope that this symbiosis between football supporters and the national team can happen also in the midst of our society, that we understand as a society that we can create something, that we can move things.”

Retiring Germany midfielder Toni Kroos, 34, was optimistic for the team’s future as well, saying: “We can all be proud because of what we did. I was happy to help out. We gave German football hope again and we got better as we went along.

“The team will do it in future but, today, we’re extremely sad because we would have liked to stay a little longer.” AFP, REUTERS