The home fans among the 51,000-strong crowd in the Stuttgart Arena stayed in their seats well after Anthony Taylor had blown the final whistle on Germany’s participation at Euro 2024.
They did so for two reasons. First, because they wanted to say goodbye to Toni Kroos; and after earning 113 caps and spending 17 years at the top with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, he deserved that.
Second, they had been stunned into some kind of zombified stupor because of how this ding dong of a quarter-final against Spain had ended.
Little more than one minute of extra time remained when Mikel Merino, an 80th-minute substitute, peeled away from the tired body of Antonio Rüdiger and angled a header past Manuel Neuer, the Germany goalkeeper.
After six minutes of stoppage time, during which Dani Carvajal was sent off for a second yellow card, Taylor blew the final whistle, causing the Spain substitutes and staff to rush on to the field and celebrate.
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Surrounding them were distraught white-shirted players who were coming to terms with the fact that they were the first home nation to fall at this stage of a European Championship.
For most of the second half of normal time, Germany had stared defeat in the face, thanks to Dani Olmo’s opening goal, expertly set up by the super Lamine Yamal. But, inspired by Julian Nagelsmann’s second-half substitutions, they fought back. Niclas Füllkrug, that hulking wrecking ball of a centre forward, had brought chaos.
As Spain’s defence creaked, Florian Wirtz swept home a Joshua Kimmich header with 100 seconds of normal time left.
For Kroos, there was no fairytale ending. Merino saw to that, although there was a feeling on the bench that Germany had been robbed of a penalty a few minutes earlier.
When Jamal Musiala’s shot struck Marc Cucurella’s dangling left arm Nagelsmann, his coaches and the Germany substitutes echoed the players’ appeals for a penalty, but neither Taylor nor the VAR, Stuart Attwell, were interested. Nagelsmann is unhappy with the vagueness of the handball rule, which states that a player’s hand must be in an unnatural position for a penalty to be awarded.
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“We have 50 robots that give us our coffee, so I think we need AI to assess the intention of crosses for penalties,” he said.
Nagelsmann, who was close to tears in his post-match interviews, praised Kroos, whom he brought out of international retirement in March.
“I found it weird that when I brought him back, no one thought it was a good idea, but some people don’t know about the important role he plays and his human kindness, it is extraordinary,” the Germany head coach said.
Taylor had a busy night, handing out 16 yellow cards in total, two of which went to Carvajal, the second for dragging Musiala to the ground in the dying seconds of an encounter that lived up to its billing as the match of the tournament.
Carvajal, Robin Le Normand and the captain Álvaro Morata, who managed to get booked after being taken off, will all miss the semi-final through suspension. Pedri, who lasted only eight minutes, will also miss out. The Spanish Football Federation said that early scans had shown that Pedri suffered ligament damage to his left knee after a crunching tackle that caused him to be replaced by Olmo.
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It was hard not to feel sorry for the 21-year-old Barcelona midfielder, who missed 25 matches for club and country last season because of hamstring problems.
Before kick-off, German spirits were high. Some 30,000 supporters packed the fan zone in Schlossplatz and even three hours before kick-off the trams to the stadium were packed with Germans singing the 1980s hit Major Tom by Peter Schilling, which has become their official anthem this week after an online petition was signed by 70,000 people.
Kroos escaped a booking for two rash challenges. Taylor had no choice but to caution Rüdiger for upending Olmo on the edge of the area though.
Germany finally started coming into the game. Ilkay Gundogan, his usual calm self, spun and located Kimmich on the overlap down the right and he lifted the ball into the box, but Kai Havertz’s header was weak and poorly directed.
Then the ugliness returned. David Raum was booked after knocking over Carvajal, and Le Normand joined him in the referee’s book for clipping Gundogan’s heels.
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Germany’s best chance of the half came out of the route-one playbook. Rüdiger sent a long ball forward to Havertz, who chested the ball down but failed to catch his shot cleanly.
Nagelsmann replaced Leroy Sané with Wirtz, and Robert Andrich came on for Emre Can to try to add more solidity to the midfield.
But a couple of minutes later, red shirts flooded the Germany box once more. Nico Williams lifted the ball to the back post, where Yamal nudged the ball inside to Morata. He spun Jonathan Tah, the centre back, with the deftest of touches but smashed the ball into the crowd after losing his balance.
It was a shocking miss but Morata redeemed himself on Spain’s next attack, laying the ball off to Yamal, who squared to Olmo and the midfielder arrived at the edge of the area just at the right time, sweeping the ball past Neuer.
After being summoned from the bench, Füllkrug hit the right post and Simón pulled off a spectacular save, tipping Andrich’s effort behind.
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The Spain goalkeeper then rushed off his line, trying to collect a through ball, but Havertz beat him to it. The forward’s lob sailed over, much to Simón’s relief.
With two minutes of normal time left, Germany’s pressure paid off. Maximilian Mittelstädt crossed deep and Kimmich used every ounce of strength to jump high and nod the ball backwards before it went out of play. Wirtz was in the perfect position to capitalise and he wasted no time in drilling the ball past Simón, in off the post.
Wirtz and Mikel Oyarzabal came within millimetres of scoring in the first half of extra time. Taylor then waved Germany’s penalty appeal away in the second half when the ball struck Cucurella’s arm.
Everyone was preparing for penalties but when Merino, a former Newcastle United player now with Real Sociedad, leapt above Rüdiger at the near post he made no mistake with his header.
Spain (4-3-3): U Simón 7 — D Carvajal 8, R Le Normand 6 (Nacho 45min, 7), A Laporte 8, M Cucurella 7 — Pedri 6 (D Olmo 8, 8), Rodri 7, F Ruiz 7 (Joselu 102) — L Yamal 8 (F Torres 63, 7), Á Morata 7 (M Oyarzabal 80), N Williams 8 (M Merino 80). Booked Le Normand, Torres, Simón, Rodri, Morata, Ruiz, Carvajal. Sent off Carvajal.
Germany (4-2-3-1): M Neuer 6 — J Kimmich 6, A Rüdiger 6, J Tah 6 (T Müller 80), D Raum 5 (M Mittelstädt 57, 6) — T Kroos 5, E Can 6 (R Andrich 45, 5) — L Sané 5 (F Wirtz 45, 6), I Gundogan 6 (N Fullkrug 57, 6), J Musiala 6 — K Havertz 6 (W Anton 90). Booked Rudiger, Raum, Kroos, Andrich, Mittelstädt, Schlotterbeck, Wirtz, Undav.
Referee A Taylor (England)