SEMI-FINALS
Germany 3-0 Spain
Werner 41'
Reus 50'
Sane 82'
Kieran O'Brien
Wembley Stadium, London, England
Wednesday 8th July
Sporting history is littered with examples of teams who, for whatever reason, perform particularly well at certain locations away from home. In cricket, the Australian men’s team lost just once at England’s famous Lord’s ground in the entire 20th century. In rugby union, Wales were winless in Paris for 24 years, yet have won six times in eleven attempts at the Stade de France since the French team moved there in 1998. There can be fewer better examples of this phenomenon in football than Germany at Wembley Stadium. Since their infamous defeat in the 1966 World Cup Final, the Germans have won eight of their ten contests at the home of English football, losing just once.
This affinity with the venue for their highly anticipated semi final showdown with Spain was surely not lost on German supporters. Over 50,000 travelled to London and appeared in buoyant mood as they took over Trafalgar Square earlier today; all four of Landseer’s Lions draped in the black, red and gold tricolour will go down as one of the defining images from this tournament. The considerable amount of red and yellow on display in the Wembley stands was an indicator that the Spanish also travelled well, but there was no doubt that they were vastly outnumbered by their German counterparts. This difference could be due in no small part to the contrasting performances of the two sides in the latter stages of this tournament; while both teams struggled in the group phase, Germany have been outstanding in both knockout games thus far, whereas Spain have stuttered past a mediocre Czech outfit and ten-man Portugal.
Despite this, pre-match discussions in the BBC studio were primarily focused on how evenly matched the two sides are on paper, with both Jermaine Jenas and the typically steely faced Alan Shearer predicting a repeat of last night’s penalty shoot-out drama between Italy and France. As it transpired, the form book was a far better indicator of how the game would pan out than the team sheets were. Germany turned in a masterful performance to dismantle Spain and march onto the final, making a mockery of both Jenas and Shearer’s predictions and the Spanish defence in the process. Italy have ridden their luck throughout this competition, and on tonight’s evidence will need even more than luck to defeat their German rivals in Sunday’s final.
Timo Werner has been one of the stars of Euro 2020 and his wink to the camera as it panned past during the anthems was an early indicator that he was in the mood tonight to continue his excellent form. Sure enough, after just three minutes he demonstrated why there is so much excitement at Stamford Bridge about his upcoming move to Chelsea. Receiving the ball with his back to goal on the edge of Spain’s penalty area, Werner sent Sergio Ramos in completely the wrong direction with a Bergkamp-esque feint before sending a vicious curling effort cannoning off David De Gea’s left hand post. The audacity of Werner’s manoeuvre to fool Ramos brought half of the press box around this writer to its feet, as well as comically drawing an involuntary squeal from Guy Mowbray.
The BBC commentator’s producers may have been hoping for a spell of quieter play following Werner’s brilliant effort to avoid the emission of further high-pitched frequencies from television sets across the land, but this is not what they received. Spain responded almost immediately, with the industrious Rodri winning the ball from Toni Kroos in midfield before releasing Gerard with a perfectly weighted through pass. The Villarreal forward, operating on the right for Spain, could well have taken a shot himself but instead chose to square the ball to Diego Costa. The Atletico Madrid striker’s first touch was heavy, which allowed Manuel Neuer to rush from his line to close the angle and palm away the subsequent shot on goal. Much had been made pre-game of Luis Enrique’s decision to drop Alvaro Morata from his starting line-up, the Spanish boss pointing to the physicality required against Germany’s defence to justify his selection in a pre-match interview. The controversy of this decision was seemingly not lost on Raul Albiol, who immediately turned to Morata on the Spanish bench and shook his head in disapproval. A public show of dismay at a teammate’s performance is never admirable, but Albiol’s reaction was understandable; there was every chance the in-form Morata would have done a lot better if presented with such a golden opportunity.
Costa’s miss was even more costly when placed in the context of the first half, which Germany were beginning to control. Joshua Kimmich and Kroos have been two of Germany’s outstanding performers over the past four weeks and were at their brilliant best here, dictating the tempo of the match with a winning combination of energy and astute pass selection. It is hard to imagine the Spanish midfield of a decade ago being dominated in such a manner, but with no Xavi or Iniesta to work alongside, Sergio Busquets looked overwhelmed by the relentlessness of Germany’s press. On 41 minutes, this pressure finally told as Germany took the lead. Again, it was Kimmich and Kroos at the heart of the move, with the former winning the ball from Santi Cazorla and feeding the latter in space on halfway. Kroos had options to his left in the shape of Marco Reus and Werner, but instead opted to chip the ball to Leon Goretzka on the right-hand touchline. The Bayern Munich man cut inside Jordi Alba and unleashed a powerful drive which De Gea palmed away into the path of the onrushing Werner, who side footed into an empty net for his sixth goal of the tournament.
The Spanish were surely relieved to hear Mike Dean’s halftime whistle, yet any hope they may have had of the break offering a reprieve from German pressure quickly dissipated as their opponents began the second half as they had ended the first. Costa, cutting an increasingly isolated figure up front, looked to bring Cazorla into the game from the left flank with a cushioned header, but only succeeded in finding Lukas Klostermann. The German fullback galloped beyond Cazorla and played a swift pass inside to Goretzka, whose return pass evaded the outstretched leg of Alba and allowed Klostermann time and space to pick out a team-mate from the right hand byline. The Leipzig defender made no mistake, whipping a low ball across De Gea’s six yard box and finding Reus at the far post, who only had to make contact to send the ball over the line and the German supporters behind the goal into ecstasy. Mobbed by his team-mates, Reus celebrated as if he had clinched a final berth for his country and, although there were still forty minutes of football to play at the time of his goal, even the most optimistic of Spanish supporters would concede that Germany looked all but in the final.
Enrique responded to the goal by introducing striker Morata for defender Azpilicueta in a bold statement of attacking intent, but the move only succeeded in opening more space for the German attack. Joachim Low introduced the pacey Leroy Sane in place of Goretzka with twenty minutes left to play, and the Bayern-bound winger compounded Spanish misery with a finely taken third on 82 minutes. Thiago Alcantra, usually so assured in possession, attempted to drill a pass into Morata with a first-time volley but misjudged the flight of the ball, succeeding only in slicing possession away to Sane on halfway. With the Spanish defence stretched and just Ramos to beat, Sane swiftly changed trajectory to perplex the retreating defender before executing a deft chip over the advancing De Gea. The goal was a superb moment, not only for Germany but for Sane personally; left out of Low’s 2018 World Cup squad and missing most of this season through injury, the former PFA Young Player of the Year will feel that he has finally shaken off the tag of ‘hot prospect’ and has truly arrived on the global stage.
If the game was not over as a contest before Sane’s third, it certainly was after it, as Germany gleefully retained possession to cries of ‘Ole!’ from their travelling support. Spain, bar Costa’s early opportunity, scarcely troubled Neuer’s goal for the entirety of the match, and much of the inevitable post-mortem in the Spanish press will focus on how a side with so much attacking talent created so little over 90 minutes. Germany, meanwhile, look superb, and will surely enter Sunday’s final as red-hot favourites to win a record fourth Henry Delaunay trophy. Low’s knowing smile and fist pump to the German support suggests he has every confidence in his side’s ability to topple Italy and, on tonight’s evidence, who could blame him?
Man of the Match: Joshua Kimmich