Euro 2024: Spirited Spain knocked out co hosts Germany in the quarter-final of Euro 2024 on Friday, 5 July. Playing a knife-edge game, Spain scored in the final mimute of the Extra Time to knockout Germany from Euro 2024.
In Short
- Hosts Germany get knocked out of Euro 2024
- Spain beat Germany 2-1 at MHPArena in Stuttgart
- Mikel Merino scores the winner for Spain
It was heartbreak for Toni Kroos whose dream comeback was spoilt by Spain who scored a winner in the final minute of the extra time on Friday, 5 July. Spain banked on their attacking mid-fielders as Dani Olmo and Mikel Merino scored two crucial goals for Spain who won the quarter-final match by a slender margin of 2-1 at Stuttgart’s MHPArena. Germany tried to move mountains in the second half and then in the Extra-Time to get ahead of Spain in the quarter-final fixture, but the Spanish side showed exceptional grit to keep their heads above the water amidst an incredible attacking wave from the Germans.
There were multiple points of controversies throughout the game as the referee was kept busy from the very first minute. The first infraction came inside the first 10 minutes with legendary German midfielder Toni Kroos lunging into Pedri, knocking out the player with his knee. Pedri, having been struck on his shin fell down and was not able to continue past the 8-minute mark. It needs to be noted that referee Antony Taylor did not give Kroos a yellow, for what seemed like an obvious foul.
It was a fun turn of events in the 13th minute as Taylor booked Antonio Rudiger for his first challenge of the day after ignoring at least two other infractions from Kroos. It was a landslide from there on, as the match saw a total of 15 yellow cards, including a second yellow (converted into a red). The whole thing culminated in a handball decision inside the penalty box at Extra-Time (106th minute) against Spain’s Marc Cucurella when the ball hit the flailing arm of the left-back. As the German players protested, the referee and the VAR deemed it to be fine.
