Germany finally broke their tournament jinx against Italy after winning 6-5 on penalties after regulation time of their Euro 2016 quarter-final in Bordeaux ended 1-1 on Saturday.
It was Germany’s first ever win against Italy at a major tournament in nine attempts.
Mesut Ozil gave Germany the lead on 65 minutes before Leonardo Bonucci equalised for Italy from the penalty spot in the 78th minute after Jerome Boateng’s handball in the box.
Germany will now meet in the semi-finals the winners between France and Iceland who play on Sunday.
After a very cagey start with chances coming at a premium, the game finally sprung to life with Ozil putting Germany 1-0 up, poking in Jonas Hector’s pass.
Few minutes later, Gomez came close to making it 2-0 for Germany off a brilliant pass from Ozil but Gianluigi Buffon palmed the ball over the bar.
With 12 minutes remaining, Italy were back on level terms through Bonucci who converted from the penalty spot after JBoateng handled the ball inside the 18-yard box.
In extra-time, Julien Draxler almost doubled Germany’s lead only to see his over-head kick go over the bar.
Lorenzo Insigne, who came on as a substitute, also went close to scoring the winner for Italy after turning his marker inside the box but his left-foot strike was well saved by Neuer.
And in the shootout, Jonas Hector put away the decisive kick to sent Germany into the last four. Six of the 10 initial kicks had been missed before the shootout went into sudden death.
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