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, penalties looking 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 the selección were on their way to the semi-final, on the verge of finally defeating a tournament host at the tenth attempt.
On their way, which is not to say they were there just yet. Still they had to survive a scare – how could it be otherwise after an evening such as this, lived on the edge? – when Niclas Füllkrug headed past a post a minute into added time. And there was another one, four minutes beyond the 120, when with the very last kick of the game, the very last kick of Toni Kroos’s entire career, they faced one final delivery into their box. Manuel Neuer was up for that. So though was Unai Simón, clutching the ball and Spain’s place in the next round.
