By Samuel A. July 19, 2025
Germany caused an upset by beating France after going down to 10 men in the early stages of the game. Despite having a player sent off in the 13th minute, Germany secured a victory for the ages, eventually beating France 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to set up a Euro 2025 semi-final showdown with Spain.
Ann-Katrin Berger was the hero with an incredible match defining save in the game before she scored a penalty and saved two in the shootout.
France had won all three of their group games, including wins against England and Wales, while Germany had suffered a humiliating 4-1 loss to Sweden in their final group game, and it looked like more bad luck to come, moreso with their ongoing right back crisis, when third choice Sarai Linder was injured in the opening minutes.
Before Linder’s substitution, Germany gave away a bemusing penalty as Kathrin Hendrich pulled the hair of France captain Griedge Mbock Bathy. It was caught by VAR, with the defender sent off and Les Bleues awarded a penalty. Grace Geyoro stepped up and just about beat Berger, who did get a fingertip onto the ball, but not enough to keep out the powerful effort.
Ten minutes later, Germany equalised. Klara Buhl sent in a fine corner and a good run from Sjoeke Nusken to the near post saw her glance a header home. Just before the break, France had the ball in the net, but the flag was up. Geyoro slotted the ball through for Delphine Cascarino to finish, but there was a tiny marginal offside confirmed in the build up. Before the hour mark, the offside rule came back to bite France. Geyoro met a rebound from Marie-Antoinette’s effort, however, Maelle Lakrar was offside in the buildup and deemed to be interfering with the goalkeeper’s ability to save the ball, and the goal was therefore ruled out. At the time, the game was fairly even between the two sides, but Germany had the chance to take the lead when they were awarded their own penalty. It was a clumsy challenge from Selma Bacha on Jule Brand, as Nusken lined up the spot kick. But Pauline Peyraud-Magnin saved the Chelsea midfielder’s effort, putting Germans in disbelief.
France largely looked stumped for a Plan B for much of the remainder of the game, but had one moment in extra time that could have won it. Germany captain Janina Minge inadvertently nodded the ball towards her own goal, forcing a leaping, one-handed stop from Berger in what looked like the best save of the tournament. The goalkeeper was Germany’s hero during the shootout, too. The Germans only missed one as Sara Dabritz, who was brought on late on as a substitute just for penalties hit the crossbar, with Berger saving twice from Amel Majri and Alice Sombath to send her team through in the most unlikely of circumstances.
Germany, who have won the Euros a record eight times, will now face world champions Spain in their semi-final on Wednesday.
