Mikel Merino breaks hosts’ hearts as Spain send Germany out of Euro 2024
Germany’s second summer fairy tale is over but Spain’s goes on, Stuttgart stunned at the last. With 65 seconds of extra time remaining, with penalties inevitable and players pulling up all over the pitch, barely able to walk, Dani Olmo clipped in a glorious ball and there, deep in the penalty area, was Mikel Merino. A turn of the head, a twist of the neck and Spain were on their way.
Still they had to survive a scare – how could it be otherwise? – when Niclas Füllkrug headed past the post a minute into added time at the end of it. And then, four minutes beyond the 120, with the very last kick of the game, the very last kick of Toni Kroos’s entire career in fact, they had to face one last ball into their box. Manuel Neuer was up for that. So though was Unai Simón, clutching firm to the ball and to Spain’s place in the semi-final of Euro 2024.
