Julius Okorie
Tournament hosts, Germany, were on Friday night sent packing after losing to Spain in extra time in very tight game played in Stuttgart.
Mikel Merino scored the decisive goal in the 119th minute, snatched an epic 2-1 win dashing the host nation’s hopes of a run all the way to the final in Berlin.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelSpain thus became the first nation to dump the hosts out of a European Championship at the quarter-final stage.
With 65 seconds of extra time remaining, Merino who made 25 appearances for Newcastle in the 2017/18 season rose to meet Dani Olmo’s cross to send Spain into a semi-final against either France or Portugal on Tuesday night in Munich.
Substitute Olmo was an instant hit after his strike lit the blue touch paper moments into the second half after not initially being selected from the start, replacing the injured Pedri after just eight minute
Spain were on their knees when Wirtz struck, but their pedigree saw them over the line. It is now six times they have reached the semi-finals at the European Championship, with only Germany (8) participating in more in the tournament’s history.
Toni Kroos, who is retiring from professional football, said the result was not the toughest defeat of his professional career, but that it was still “a game where we gave everything to avoid defeat.”
“Given that we came so close, it’s all the more bitter,” Kroos said. “It goes without saying that it’s a bit sad here tonight, because we would have liked to stick around a little longer.”
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Joshua Kimmich also spoke of “great disappointment” to bow out of another major tournament.
“But this time everything was different,” Kimmich said, after three tournaments prior to Euro 2024 in which Germany had not won a single knockout game. “We put everything into it, from the first minute to the last.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz commented after the match on how close it was, and said he thought both sides could be proud of their performance and the attacking football they played.
Merino’s winning goal has become the third-latest winning goal in a UEFA European Championship match (118:52), after Michel Platini for France vs Portugal at Euro 1984 (118:53) and Artem Dovbyk for Ukraine vs Sweden at Euro 2020 (120:36).
Spain will face France who survived full and extra time and converted five penalties to dispatch Portugal 5-3, in the semifinals next Tuesday, 9th July. End of the road in the tournament for Ronaldo but Mbappe gets added opportunity to shine in the semis.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
