A Kai Havertz penalty and a Jamal Musiala strike gave Germany a 2-0 win over Denmark on Saturday as the host nation reached the Euro 2024 quarter-finals after a dramatic game that was delayed by almost half an hour in the first half due to a violent storm.
Havertz stroked home from the spot early in the second half in Dortmund following a handball by Joachim Andersen, the unlucky Danish defender who had a goal disallowed at the other end only moments earlier.
Musiala, of Bayern Munich, then ran away to stroke in the second goal midway through the second half as Germany’s class told in the last-16 tie.
At one point it looked as if the game could be abandoned as English referee Michael Oliver stopped play in the 35th minute and took the teams off the pitch while a violent storm passed overhead.
Torrential rain, hailstones, high winds, thunder and lightning caused a delay of 25 minutes before the action could resume.
It made for a memorable night, and one that ended with the host nation coming through a stern test of their credentials to keep alive their dream of winning the trophy in Berlin on July 14.
The path is set to get much tougher from here, however, and Julian Nagelsmann’s team will now go to Stuttgart for a quarter-final next Friday against either Spain or Georgia.
“In the end, it was a game full of adversity. We fought well against the adversity,” German coach Nagelsmann told broadcaster Magenta.
“We’re playing with euphoria, we’re playing with fun and that’s when football is the most beautiful,” added defender Nico Schlotterbeck.
Denmark, who famously beat Germany in the 1992 European Championship final, go home without winning a game – they had qualified from their group with three draws.
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Their coach, Kasper Hjulmand, complained about the two key VAR decisions which went against his team.
“It’s not how we are supposed to be using VAR. It’s one centimeter,” he said of the offside against Andersen.
“And one minute later there was a penalty, I’m so tired of the ridiculous handball rules.”
Nagelsmann made three changes to the German roster following their last outing, a 1-1 draw with Switzerland.
Schlotterbeck replaced the suspended Jonathan Tah in defense, David Raum came in at left-back, and Leroy Sane was preferred over Florian Wirtz on the right wing.
It threatened to become a frustrating night for the home team as they were thwarted on several occasions by Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
He tipped over a Kimmich drive and turned a Havertz volley around the post as the Danes weathered the early storm.
But when the action eventually restarted with the pitch sodden from the weather, Germany quickly cranked up the pressure again.
The Danes posed a threat on the break as they attacked towards their own supporters, but Rasmus Hojlund hit the side-netting after catching Schlotterbeck in possession, and then saw Manuel Neuer save at his feet.
The game was interrupted again for half-time, before Denmark – and Andersen in particular – were left to rue the two VAR interventions at the beginning of the second half.
Switzerland on a roll
Earlier, Italy’s defense of their title ended in underwhelming fashion as they lost to Switzerland, going down 2-0 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
Ruben Vargas teed up Remo Freuler for Switzerland’s 37th-minute opener before curling home superbly himself right at the start of the second half to deservedly double their lead.
Murat Yakin’s supremely well-drilled team, who held Germany to a draw in the group stage, outplayed the flat two-time champions and will face England or Slovakia in the next round, next Saturday in Duesseldorf.
“There are only good sides at the Euros, we went unbeaten in the group stage and played well, and the Germany game showed we can go toe-to-toe with teams like that,” Yakin told reporters.
“We sent out an important signal tonight with the game we played. We did not only club together and defend as a unit and sit back, we showed we could attack and dominate proceedings.”
A new-look Italy, short on star power and without many of the key figures that led them to Euro 2020 glory, offered little in response to Switzerland’s energetic display.
“It hurts, it really hurts,” said Italy’s captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
“We can only say sorry to everyone, we were disappointing today and they deserved to win. We struggled all game long.”
The last-16 action continues on Sunday as England takes on Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen before Spain faces Georgia in Cologne.