By Trevor Stynes
STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) – Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann feels his team had a positive Euro 2024 and believes they were the better side against Spain as they exited the tournament in a dramatic extra time defeat in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Spain’s Mikel Merino scored the winner in the 119th minute with the game set for a penalty shootout, and it was heartbreaking for Germany who had forced extra time with a late goal of their own through Florian Wirtz in the 89th minute.
Nagelsmann congratulated Spain on their victory, but was bitterly disappointed for his players after the huge effort they put in.
“The whole game was too open and then in the second half we reacted with our personnel in a good way and we came better into the game,” Nagelsmann told reporters, with one of his changes after the break netting the equaliser following Dani Olmo’s opener for Spain.
“And after the 60th minute we were clearly the better team with many clear chances and towards the end I think that we scored was well deserved.
“With the exception of the first five minutes of the second half of extra time I think it was almost only us who wanted to win.”
Germany had chances to score both before the Wirtz equaliser and after, with Niclas Fuellkrug hitting the post, before they were hit by Spain’s sucker punch.
“We had the chances, we missed the goal only by two centimetres so I think we were really into the game and then with the last chance we conceded,” Nagelsmann said.
“I don’t know if we opened up too much, if we risked too much, if someone wants to ask me that question I would say no.
“But unfortunately in that situation we didn’t have enough pressure on the wing and Dani Olmo was able to play this super nice cross.”
Germany’s defeat and exit will be even harder to take after they were denied what looked like a penalty when the ball struck Marc Cucurella’s hand in extra time.
“I don’t want to talk too much about it but I want to use this stage here just to talk about football in general also for others maybe,” the manager said.
“It would be nice if it would be assessed what is the intention behind the ball. This is quite simple so we should really assess the intention of the shot where the shot went towards.
“I think they applied a rule that finally this wasn’t a penalty. But certainly this wasn’t the only reason why we lost the game.”
Despite the hosts’ exit from the tournament, the manager was positive about how they approached Euro 2024 and hopes his squad can also be a uniting force in the country.
“I think what was reproached towards the national team in the past, that they didn’t want to win, that they didn’t show enough will to win, I think today you couldn’t see that for one second,” he said.
“The players invested everything on the pitch. I said to them they should take that with them, that we are a country where too much is said in too many situations, looking at many situations with a very dark perspective.
“I hope that this symbiosis between football supporters and the national team can happen also in the midst of our society, that we understand as a society that we can create something, that we can move things.”
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Toby Davis)
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