Euro 2024, Germany vs Spain: Toni Kroos’ comeback spoilt as Spain knockout hosts Germany in Extra Time

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.

Euro 2024: Germany vs Spain Highlights

Germans would surely have to blame themselves for the loss as they were wasteful in front of the goal throughout the match as Niklas FullKrug and Florian Writz missed golden chances from inside the box in the Extra Time of the match. However, most notably it was Kai Havertz, who failed to convert a goal despite Spain’s goalkeeper – Unai Simon – miles off his line. Havertz’s lob, which went way above the bar saw the stadium release an audible gasp, in what was a really tight game between the European giants.

Spain banked on their youth for the majority of the game with Lamine Yamai and Nico Williams dominating the flanks on each side. Spain’s first goal came from a classic Yamal run, where he cut in from the right and laid it off to Dani Olmo, who broke the deadlock in the 51st minute of the match. Spain showed some lovely passing The duo were taken off in the second half, Yamal in the 63rd minute and Nico Williams in the 80th minute of the game.

It is here where the game changed for Germany. Coach Julian Nagelsmann made five substitutions in a desperate attempt to find the equaliser which paid dividends in the 89th minute as substitute Florian Wirtz, the Bundesliga’s player of the year for champions Bayer Leverkusen, hammered home a shot from Joshua Kimmich’s header to force extra time.

The game was into the 119th minute and looked set for a penalty shootout when substitute Merino rose to head home the winning goal from Olmo’s cross. The hosts Germany pushed hard for a late leveller and fullback Dani Carvajal was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for tackling Jamal Musiala to avoid a counter attack. He and centre back Robin Le Normand will miss the semi-final, as Spain held out to advance to the last four and a meeting with either Portugal or France who play later on Friday..