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Germany produced a heroic performance with only 10 players to knock out a stunned France side in a penalty shootout and progress to the Euro 2025 semi-finals on a night of compelling drama in Basel.
The record eight-time European champions had to play the vast majority of the contest with one player fewer than the French but defended doggedly throughout extra time and then won the shootout 6-5 to book a semi-final meeting with the world champions, Spain, on Wednesday in Zurich. The goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was Germany’s heroine, not only in the shootout, but with an astonishing save in extra time.
Germany’s fate had looked bleak in the 13th minute when Kathrin Hendrich was shown a straight red card for pulling Griedge Mbock’s hair inside the penalty area. It was a blatant, cynical foul and frankly bizarre behaviour from the 33-year-old Hendrich, one of the most experienced players on the pitch. Grace Geyoro duly stepped up and did what scarcely anybody has been able to do in this tournament so far and converted her penalty. Berger got a hand to Geyoro’s spot-kick but could not keep it out and the midfielder became France’s all-time top scorer at Women’s European Championships.
For the remainder of the first half, Germany defied their numerical disadvantage with a brave performance of counterattacking football and they equalised when Sjoeke Nüsken darted to the near post unmarked to meet Klara Bühl’s corner and loop an excellent header into the far corner.
France thought they had scored an outstanding team goal before half-time, when Delphine Cascarino’s instinctive back-heel into the net rounded off a flowing move, but she had been in an offside position. Another offside decision, confirmed by the video assistant referee, also ruled out a French “goal” early in the second half, when Geyoro tucked in on the rebound from Berger’s close-range save from Marie-Antoinette Katoto; Maëlle Lakrar was offside and deemed to have interfered with play, much to the frustration of France and Geyoro, who had run to celebrate with her teammates next to the substitutes’ bench.
Germany were doing an excellent job of stifling their opponents with a valiant defensive display and then – suddenly – at the other end, they were awarded a penalty when Selma Bacha clumsily fouled the superb Jule Brand. Cue German joy in the stands, but it was short-lived as Pauline Peyraud-Magnin saved Nüsken’s penalty, which had been fired slightly to the left of centre, and a relatively kind height for the keeper.
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Berger produced the save of the tournament so far in the first 15 extra minutes, wowing everybody in the stadium as she somehow leaped backwards to make a one-handed save to prevent an own goal from her teammate Janina Minge, with the keeper magnificently managing to claw the ball off the line when it had been behind her body. She was superb again in the shootout, making two saves – including the decisive one from Alice Sombath’s sudden-death strike – to complete a stunning result. On the way she also scored a spot-kick of her own.
The result ensured that France’s long wait for a first major trophy in the women’s game will continue, as they exit at the quarter-final stage of this competition for the fourth time in the past five editions of the Women’s Euros. The teams also met in the semi-finals of the Euros three years ago in Milton Keynes, when the Germans emerged victorious after a talismanic performance from their now-retired striker Alexandra Popp, but this was supposedly a new France, a fresher France, a more technically impressive France team, and one that had enjoyed three wins out of three to finish top of Group D, scoring 11 goals in the process. Yet they could not break this stubborn Germany defence down and they will surely see this as the greatest of all their many missed opportunities down the years.
