When 19 Penalties Defined the Germany-Italy Rivalry in EURO 2016

EURO 2016 was full of surprises and featured some of the best moments of the game for football fans. One such incident came when Germany and Italy were up against each other in the Quarter-Finals of the tournament and being a knockout game, only one of them had a chance to go further. Fans were on the edge of their seats as 19 penalties were taken. With each penalty, the game could have gone either way, adding to the excitement. But the determination of the Goalkeepers of both the teams allowed the fans to have an amazing game of Football. But who won the game? Let’s find it out.

Germany vs Italy: Quarter-Finals of EURO 2016

On 2nd July 2016, Germany and Italy were scheduled to face each other at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux in the Quarter-Finals of the EURO 2016. Germany was coming after winning Group C and the Round of 16 against Slovakia while on the other hand, Italy topped Group E and defeated Spain in the Round of 16 to enter the Quarter-Finals. With both teams rich in confidence, the battle was expected to be a close one and it lived up to the expectations. 

First Half of the Match

The captain of the German team, Manuel Neuer, and the captain of the Italy team, Gianluigi Buffon started the proceedings, and in the fifth minute of the game, Italy created a chance but wasn’t able to convert it to a goal because the shot went wide. In the 16th minute of the game, Germany made a change as Sami Khedira was substituted by Bastian Schweinsteiger because of some injury issues, and the match continued. Germany had the ball possession for the maximum time and in the 27th minute of the game, Mats Hummels passed the ball to Bastian Schweinsteiger in the danger zone of the Italy team and he even scored the goal but the referee denied it because of the push to Mattia De Sciglio. 

Manuel Neuer and Gianluigi Buffon were at their best in the first half, preventing any goals. Both Germany and Italy created several scoring opportunities, but the goalkeepers were impenetrable. Mats Hummels had three promising shots for Germany, all of which were deflected by Buffon. Likewise, Neuer made crucial saves to keep Italy at bay. Despite the relentless attacks from both sides, the scoreline stayed 0-0 by halftime, highlighting the exceptional performance of both goalkeepers and the strong defensive play from each team.

Second Half of the Match

For the second half of the match, both the teams started without any change, and then in the 50th minute, Germany missed a close chance when Mario Gomes set up Thomas Müller just outside the penalty area. Alessandro Florenzi spectacularly cleared Müller’s powerful shot with an acrobatic effort inside his own six-yard box. Moments later, Jerome Boateng attempted a long-range shot, but it sailed over the crossbar. Despite these opportunities, Germany was unable to score. With Italy losing the possession, there were some heated moments as Stefano Sturaro got the first yellow card of the night for engaging with the referee.

Just as this moment took place, another player from Italy, Mattia De Sciglio got the second yellow card of the match in the 57th minute after playing rough against Joshua Kimmich and hence he was banned from the next match. And then in the 60th minute, Marco Parolo got the third yellow card for a high boot against Mario Gomez, and in just under 5 minutes, the game got heated with the players now playing with utmost aggression from both sides. To compensate for this, the 65th minute finally saw a goal from Mesut Ozil as Jonas Hector’s deflection allowed Ozil to hammer a goal and give Germany a 1-0 lead in the match.

After scoring a goal in the 65th minute, Germany again got a chance to double their lead when in the 68th minute, Mesut Ozil passed the ball to Mario Gomez who was all alone in the box with the keeper but a poor touch from his side allowed Gianluigi Buffon to make a superb save for the Italy team. In the 72nd minute, Mario Gomez was off the field and was replaced by Julian Draxler and the match took a turn in the 77th minute as while taking a header, Jérôme Boateng got a hand on the ball in the box and hence Italy was awarded a penalty to level the game. 

Leonardo Bonucci took the penalty against Manuel Neuer and blasted the goal into the bottom right side, giving no chance to the Goalkeeper and hence the scoreline was now 1-1 by the end of the 80th minute. The last 10 minutes of the game saw some intense gameplay and Italy substituted Alessandro Florenzi to bring on Matteo Darmian to make a difference. Besides this, Germany’s Mats Hummels and Italy’s Graziano Pellè earned a yellow card and took the game to extra time.

Extra Time of the Match

Just like the last 90 minutes of the actual game, the extra-time also went as competitive from both sides. Italy and Germany created some strong chances to get the lead but the defence from both the teams was just too strong to break down. At 101 minutes, Germany had a chance to score when Müller’s shot was deflected, giving them a corner kick. However, Kroos’ corner kick went too far, and Parolo headed the ball behind the goal line unnecessarily. On the next corner kick, Boateng’s shot from far away missed the goal. 

During the 103rd minute of the game, Italy’s Emanuele Giaccherini received the fifth yellow card from Italy’s team and hence it was a rough game from their side. Finally, in the 108th minute, Italy made a change as Eder was replaced by Lorenzo Insigne as they planned the strategy of an all-attack during the last phase of the game. Then in the 112th minute, Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger received the 7th Yellow card of the game, and the extra time ended with Simone Zaza coming in as a replacement for Giorgio Chiellini as the scoreline was 1-1 by the end of 120 minutes.

Penalty Shoot-outs of the Match

After getting no result even after the 120 minutes of the game, the Germany vs Italy Quarter-Finals headed to the Penalty shoot-outs. For the Germany team, Manuel Neuer was the Goalkeeper while the Italy team had Gianluigi Buffon as their goalkeeper for the penalties.

As soon as Jonas Hector scored the final penalty, the whole of the Germany crowd along with the players erupted in joy while the Italy players were left in disbelief even after playing so well. Manuel Neuer was awarded the Man of the Match for his brilliant goalkeeping skills and the Germany team advanced to the Semi-Finals of the tournament.