Germany defied the odds in a chaotic encounter to beat France in a penalty shootout and reach the semi-finals of Euro 2025 – despite playing with 10 players from the 13th minute.
The eight-time champions had Kathrin Hendrich sent off when, in a moment of madness, she pulled Griedge Mbock by her hair in the box.
Christian Wuck’s side responded with a stubborn performance, resiliently holding on for extra-time before forcing penalties – and then winning in emphatic fashion.
Goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, who had produced an outstanding string of stops throughout the evening, was the hero as she made the decisive save to deny Alice Sombath and seal a 6-5 shootout victory.
Not only was Hendrich shown a straight red card after a video assistant referee (VAR) intervention for foolishly tugging at Mbock’s hair, but France were subsequently awarded a penalty that Grace Geyoro calmly powered past Berger to put Les Bleues in front.
But despite their double disadvantage, Germany, responded quickly and Sjoeke Nusken equalised with a glancing header to instil a sense of belief back in her team.
Delphine Cascarino had a goal ruled out for offside before the break and Wuck’s side fought hard to enter the interval on level terms.
His side remained resolute and were even the better side for periods, while they breathed a sigh of relief when Geyoro had a second goal disallowed as Maelle Lakrar was deemed to be in an offside position in the build-up.
But Chelsea midfielder Nusken was left with her head in her hands when she missed the opportunity to put Germany ahead, sending her penalty straight at Pauline Peyraud-Magnin after Jule Brand had been brought down by Selma Bacha.
After digging deep to take the tie to a tense shootout, Germany scored all but one of their spot-kicks, while Berger produced terrific saves to deny both Amel Majri and Sombath.
Their hard-earned reward is a semi-final against world champions Spain on Wednesday at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich.
What was the main talking point?
With full-back Carlotta Wamser’s red card costing Germany in their 4-1 group-stage defeat by Sweden last time out, Hendrich’s dismissal was all the more shocking.
At first there was confusion among fans over the reasoning for the VAR check and jeers then rang out as Geyoro calmly converted her spot-kick once the decision had been taken.
German fans remained furious, and it made for a lively atmosphere inside St Jakob-Park as they whistled and booed every decision against their team.
Hendrich’s foolishness allowed France to use their extra player to control the game, but they failed to make their dominance count as they lacked quality with the final ball and Germany’s defence remained defiant.
While France will be criticised for failing to provide the quality and creativity needed to find the crucial breakthrough with an extra player, credit must be given to the character of their opponents who summoned remarkable strength and spirit to survive.
Even after giving their all, Germany remained composed to slot home six brilliant penalties and celebrated wildly with their raucous fans following Berger’s show-stopping decisive save.
