Spain and Germany started the quarter-finals of the European Championship with a big bang on Friday. It was the favourite against the host and it l
Spain and Germany started the quarter-finals of the European Championship with a big bang on Friday.
It was the favourite against the host and it lived up to its billing. 16-year-old Lamine Yamal set a great ball for Dani Olmo who calmly scored to give La Roja a deserving lead in the 51st minute.
Germany attacked because they had no option than to score. With the introduction of Niklas Fullkrug and Florian Wirtz, gave the host enough attacking options. The Bundesliga player of the Season, Wirtz, equalised with just a minute to end the game.
In the extra time, Mikel Merino’s header in the 119th minute gave Spain a 2-1 lead breaking the entire Germans heart. Luis De la Fuente’s Spain secured a place in the last four by dint of hard work.
Portugal lost on penalties aginst France after a dull 120 minutes of action that failed to excite fans. Considering the attacking talents both teams paraded on the field, a goal should have been scored but both teams failed to do the needful.
Joao Felix missed his penalty helping France to triumph 5-3 after they scored all their 5 penalties.
Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions reached their 3rd semi-finals in the last 4 major tournaments after they defeated Switzerland 5-3 on penalties.
The game ended 1-1 in 120 minutes with Breel embolo connecting Dan Ndoye’s beautiful low cross in the 75th minute. England quickly made 3 changes with Konsa, Mainoo and Trippier been replaced by Palmer, Shaw and Eze respectively. After just two minutes on the field, the three substitutes changed a lot as they began to play like a proper side.
Bukayo Saka was the hero of the day after scoring a very delightful goal from outside the 18-yard-box to level the scores for England.
The game ended 1-1 in the 90 minutes. None of the sides were able to find the winer in the extra time and hence penalties were needed to determine the winner.
England had the upper hand on paper during the penalties because they had in their squad many penalty takers for their clubs. England scored all 5 while Swiss missed one via Manuel Akanji.
Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands came back from behind to beat the impressive Turkey 2-1. Arder Guler’s lovely cross was headed in by the 30-year-old Fernabache centre-back Samet Akaydin in the 35th minute.
Netherlads equalised through De Vrij who powerfully headed into the right post Depay’s cross.
Mulder scored an own goal after Dumfries whipped in an inviting cross in 76 minutes to put the Oranje in front.
The game ended 2-1 with the great Ronald Koeman enjoying the special moment.
It is a whopping 2 decades since the Netherlands made it to the semi-finals of the Europesn Championship as it last happened in Euro 2004.
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