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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
| Penalties | |
| Germany (6) | Italy (5) |
| 1st Penalty: Toni Kroos scored the first penalty to the left side of the Goal. Buffon failed to judge the ball and failed to stop it | 1st Penalty: Lorenzo Insigne took the first penalty and got it into the right side of the Goal while the keeper dived to his right |
| 2nd Penalty: Thomas Muller went to the right side of the Goal with the keeper diving to his left side and hence saving the penalty | 2nd Penalty: Simone Zaza failed to score a penalty as his shot went over the Goal post with the keeper diving to his right side |
| 3rd Penalty: Mesut Ozil failed to convert the penalty to a goal as the ball deflected after hitting the right side of the Goal post | 3rd Penalty: Andrea Barzagli kicked the ball in the centre of the Goal while the keeper dived to his left side, failing to collect the ball |
| 4th Penalty: Julian Draxler picked the right side of the Goal and allowed the team to equalize the scoreline of the match | 4th Penalty: Graziano Pellè kicked the ball to the left side of the goal but missed it by a long distance and hence missed the penalty |
| 5th Penalty: Leonardo Bonucci failed to score his second goal as Manuel Neuer jumped to his right to save the score | 5th Penalty: Bastian Schweinsteiger shot the ball wildly over the bar and hence it was counted as a missed shot |
| After five shots each, the penalty shoot-out was still undecided. The match now came down to sudden death: the first team to score a penalty while the other missed would be crowned the winner | |
| 6th Penalty: Mats Hummels produced the goal on the right side while the goalkeeper failed to judge the ball | 6th Penalty: Emanuele Giaccherini got the goal from the centre while Manuel Neuer jumped to his right |
| 7th Penalty: Joshua Kimmich scored with a precise shot to the right, as the goalkeeper, despite diving in the correct direction, failed to reach the ball | 7th Penalty: Marco Parolo scored from the centre as Manuel Neuer dived to his left and failed to stop the ball |
| 8th Penalty: Jérôme Boateng found the net on the right side as the keeper misjudged the ball | 8th Penalty: Mattia De Sciglio scored to his right as the keeper dived to the opposite side |
| 9th Penalty: Gianluigi Buffon failed to stop the penalty against Jonas Hector as he found the net on the right side | 9th Penalty: Manuel Neuer saved the penalty by diving to his left side and Matteo Darmian missed the penalty |
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.
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