How Spain reached their first final of the European female championship at German expenses

When the world and the world’s league champions, Spanish women presented themselves on the ground with their German counterparts for their semi-final of the European female championship, they both knew that the lionesses of Sarina Wiegman await them in the final on Sunday.

A rehearsal of the final of 2022 euros or the final of the 2023 World Cup was on the cards, and although Spain was long the favorites of the tournament, they had never reached a European final.

Germany had reached seven of the last eight finals

Germany, on the other hand, had the experience of nine previous female finals in euros on which to rely, including seven of the last eight – which they had won.

Despite this, Spain began XI on Wednesday that had made 165 collective appearances during major tournaments (World Cup / euros), against only 93 collective appearances among Germany’s starting program.

As expected, the first 10 minutes of the match were an exercise in both teams that settle and develop attack areas. The Spaniards dominated the statistics that pass, the Irene parades finishing 26 assists within the first 15 minutes.

No German player had made more than five, and the German team had only 33 collectively at that time the match.

The German central midfielder Sara Dabritz quickly picked up the seventh yellow card from her team tournament, and it was even before she made a single pass in the match.

The domination of Spain over the ball has continued, and Paredes and the top scorer of the tournament, Esther Gonzalez, worked Ann-Katrin Berger in Germany with shots on the target.

Possession of 78% of Spain

Although the Spaniards had 78% possession after half and hour, their defense of the opponents remained resolved and, therefore, the Montse Tome team had succeeded only five keys in the German box.

This meant that a feeling of already rampant already given that during the last six games between the parties, Spain had been kept without a safe blow in four and scored only one goal in the other two games – none of which had been won.

The incessant Spanish pressure in half-time until half-time saw eight other shots in the last six minutes of half-time, three of which were on the target and one striking the woodwork.

The irremovable object against the unstoppable strength

However, Germany held firm but could not be a kind of threat of attack. Indeed, not since the semi-final of the 2015 FIFA World Cup against the United States, they had not managed to shoot the target in the first half of a major tournament match, while 12 Spanish shots in the first 45 were the most joint by a team in the semi-final in Euro since Germany played in Sweden in 2013.

It is clear that things had to change after the break for the side of Christian Wuck, and within the first 15 minutes, the Germans had at least managed to increase their possession statistics to 40% more respectable, while obtaining more blows than their opponents (three to two).

Not unexpectedly, while the game focused on the scheme was withdrawn in the real estate object against the irresistible force, and the question mark, if there was one, it was who was going to bend first.

Germany has excelled in the physical battle

Patri Guijarro certainly made it the highest to stop the game before an energy undergoing more than 30 minutes, and its four chances created from the open game were only beaten by Guijarro itself (five chances) in a group phase game in 2022.

If there was an area where Spain came short and, therefore, Germany excels, it was with regard to the more physical aspects of the game.

30 tentéed plated were 12 more than Spain could not gather, and 15 won by the Germans were almost double that of their opponent.

During the last stages of the 90 minutes, it appeared that the two parties had settled for more time, however, a late gust of the Germans, who had four shots in one minute during the injury time, saw Cata Coll worked more than she had done in the 93 minutes that had passed before.

Incredibly, another white in normal times gave Spain an unwanted record for not having marked against Germany in a competitive match for 450 minutes.

Sophia Kleinherne pushed her side as they started to get tired, and she continued to get stuck for more time. His seventh Won duel was the largest number of defenders on the ground.

Berger finally beaten late in additional time

At halftime in overtime, there had been 20 shots to the goal collectively without any team score. The only match to have had more shots without scoring was when Spain played Austria in the quarter -final in Euro 2017 (21).

He put in perspective not only the work implemented by the attackers of each team, but also the excellence of the defense, in particular of the German backline.

With eight minutes on the left, Berger was finally beaten, and when she returns back to the replay, she will almost certainly be angry with herself.

Aitana Bonmati had freed herself from her marker in the area, but the angle was far too tight to mark and a return appeared the only option.

Feeling an incoming cross, Berger made the fatal error to move away slightly from his post and that left a gap for the Barcelona player to break at home what turned out to be the winner. His third goal with direct elimination in major competitions also brought his level with Jenni Hermoso (three each).

Germany again ended the strongest of the two teams, but a very first victory for Spanish women against the team of the most successful European female championship in history has quickly become a reality.

The next day, if Wucck and his players are looking for reasons why they failed to enter another final, only 17 keys in the opposition penalty box compared to Spain 38 is one of the many that will tell the story.