Germany will see the quarter-finals for the first time since Euro 2016. The Germans defeated the Danes, as combative as ever, by starting the match on foot, totaling four shots on target and a goal refused in the first half hour.
The Danes fought back, but their efforts were halted by the thunderstorm, torrential rain and hailstorm that hit Dortmund. In a rare move, the referee stopped the game for twenty-five minutes. Hojlund then twice missed the chance to open the scoring before half-time.
The match changed around ten minutes after the restart, with several decisive interventions from VAR: a Danish goal was disallowed, before Kai Havertz scored from the penalty spot a few minutes later. After several unsuccessful attempts, it was Jamal Musiala who delivered Germany with the second-half goal.
What you must remember
The Arsenal forward responded to criticism of his presence at the forefront of the German attack, producing a solid performance with four shots on target, a penalty goal and some pivotal play that was essential to wear down and destabilise the Danish defence.
1-0, 53e : Following a hand from Joachim Andersen, the National team benefits from a generous penalty. Kai Havertz cuts his run-up but crosses his shot perfectly and finds the small net of Schmeichel who had started on the right side.
2-0, 68e : Served by Nico Schlotterbeck on a long aerial ball, Jamal Musiala deceives the Danish goalkeeper from the left side by opening the right foot.
The number: 3
This is the number of goals canceled in this meeting: two on the German side (Schlotterbeck, 4e, goal disallowed for a foul by Joshua Kimmich; Florian Wirtz, 91egoal disallowed for offside position of the scorer) and a Danish side (Andersen, 48egoal disallowed for offside position of a teammate).
At 48e minute, Andersen thought he had opened the scoring for Denmark by taking advantage of a mix-up in the German defence at the penalty spot. But his goal was disallowed for an offside error by a few toes of his team-mate Thomas Delaney. Four minutes later, it was the same unfortunate Andersen who conceded a penalty due to an involuntary, but “detached” handball in the face of David Raum’s overflow. Havertz converted and the Danes took a blow to the head from which they would not recover.
« We showed that we have character “, declared defender Antonio Rüdiger to our colleagues at BeIN Sports 1. The defender was already looking ahead to the rest of the competition: ” We still have three games to win ».
Two goals allowed and three disallowed, eleven shots on target out of nearly thirty attempts, heroic defenses like Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rüdiger, we enjoyed this very fast-paced match, including due to the weather conditions, which kept us on the edge of our seats for a long time.
