Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz scored as Euro 2024 hosts Germany reached the quarter-finals by beating Denmark in a game that was interrupted by a spectacular storm.
The last-16 tussle at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion was suspended for around 20 minutes towards the end of the first half, as lightning lit up the sky and the pitch was soaked by hail and heavy rain.
But the game was also notable for calls by the video assistant referee, with Nico Schlotterbeck having had an early header ruled out by VAR, while Denmark were denied in the second half when Joachim Andersen’s strike was chalked off as team-mate Thomas Delaney was flagged just offside.
Germany were celebrating another VAR call in their favour moments after the Danes’ disallowed goal when referee Michael Oliver was called to the pitchside monitor and awarded a penalty for handball by the luckless Andersen.
Havertz put a cool spot-kick out of Kasper Schmeichel’s reach to delight the passionate home fans.
The forward should have scored a second soon after when he clipped a shot over Schmeichel only to see it go wide, but Germany had their decisive second with just over 20 minutes remaining.
This time it was young star Musiala who got the goal as he raced through on the left and slotted into the far corner.
From then on the home fans were on their feet, roaring their side on for more goals, hoping they would really lay down a marker to suggest they might go all the way.
No more were forthcoming, but the Germany fans cheered their side passionately at the final whistle in celebration of this convincing win.
They will next play the winner of Sunday’s game between Spain, who have looked one of the best sides so far, and surprise package Georgia. The quarter-final is scheduled for Friday, 5 July.
