Germany beat Italy in penalty shootout to reach Euro 2016 semi-finals

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James Benge2 July 2016

A moment of madness from Jerome Boateng nearly cost Germany a place in the Euro 2016 semi-finals as they needed a penalty shootout to find their way past Italy.

Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil had given the world champions a deserved lead just after the hour but a bizarre handball by the Bayern Munich centre-back gave Leonardo Bonucci a chance to equalise from the spot. It was exceptionally harsh on Germany, by far the better side in an intriguing clash between two of the tournament’s favourites.

A shellshocked Germany were unable to find a way past the Italian defence in extra time but got the victory they deserved from the spot, if in a rather un-German style.

Having missed just two penalties from 28 since 1976 Thomas Muller, Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger contrived to miss their spot-kicks yet still they made it through, Matteo Darmian missing in sudden death before Jonas Hector hammered in to secure a 6-5 shootout win after nine penalties a side. It was a low-rent finale few expected before kick-off in what promised to be a game defined by tactics, not farce.

Having seen his side outclass Italy 4-1 in a March friendly by matching their 3-5-2 formation Joachim Low tried the same again in Bordeaux. Julian Draxler, the star playmaker in the world champions evisceration of Slovakia in the last round, was dropped for centre-back Benedikt Howedes.

The change set the tone for a match where both managers seemed more concerned with nullifying their opponents than exploiting their own strengths. For Italy that meant starting the game by pressing high in a bid to win the ball back quickly. When they claimed possession though, they could do nothing with it, even Leonardo Bonucci had lost his passing radar.

Germany’s hopes of building momentum were disrupted early on, Sami Khedira picking up an injury inside the first 15 minutes to be replaced by Bastian Schweinsteiger. The Manchester United man’s first action was to take the captain’s armband from Manuel Neuer, his second saw him fail to reach a simple lofted pass from Jerome Boateng.

For 40 minutes the game continued in much the same vein, but a flurry of late chances for Mario Gomez, Thomas Muller, whose Euro drought continued when he failed to volley in from close range, and Stefano Sturaro offered hope for a more dramatic second half.

It didn’t disappoint. Only the spectacular intervention of Alessandro Florenzi on his goal-line denied a Muller piledriver with Gianluigi Buffon stranded.

Italy were rattled. Sturaro and Matteo De Sciglio picked up bookings within two minutes of each other. Marco Parolo could have seen worse than yellow for a big boot up Gomez’s behind.

The pressure told when Mats Hummels burst forward to add to the attacking numbers. A superb pass from Gomez found him bursting to the byline where he cut the ball back for Ozil to slot home.

Ozil turned provider a minute later, where his chipped pass took six defenders out of contention, with only the brilliance of Buffon denying Gomez’s backheel volley.

With 13 minutes to go Italy were throwing little Germany’s way that would test them. That was until Jerome Boateng chose a cross into the box as the perfect time to practice his star jumps. Giorgio Chiellini flicked the ball into his opponent’s arm, some way above head height. Leonardo Bonucci slotted home the penalty as 75 minutes of hard work were undone by one individual error.

In extra-time an increasingly tetchy contest dissolved into a series of tit for tat fouls as player after player managed to rule themselves out of the semi-finals. Penalties were a blessed relief, at least no-one could square up to an opponent.

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