Italy crashed out of Euro 2016 on Saturday night after losing 6-5 on penalties in their quarter-finals clash with Germany.
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Germany took the lead through Ozil’s 65th-minute opener, but Italy equalised 13 minutes later when Leonardo Bonucci scored from the spot after Jerome Boateng’s handball. The world champions had also remained unbeaten in spot-kicks since 1976.
Simone Zaza has attracted ridicule for his missed penalty as Italy crashed out of Euro 2016 and he accepts it will be tough to get over. They play with two central attackers and two wingers, who are playing high up the pitch.
With this performance however, Buffon proved that he has just got better with age and the Azzurri fans will be hoping that Buffon comes back for one last tournament in 2018.
Conte, who is leaving his post to join Chelsea in the Premier League, said that he regrets only the penalties his side had missed and not the effort which they made.
Zaza had been brought on in the final seconds of extra time to take a penalty, but he blazed over after a weird run-up, before being relieved to see Buffon immediately save from Muller.
The German drama, however, was far from over.
“I sprained my knee in the first half, but I did what was necessary, because we couldn’t think about tomorrow”, Sturaro, who started in place of the injured Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Candreva and a suspended Thiago Motta, told Sky Sport Italia.
It was a fixture worthy of the final itself – Italy and Germany have won eight World Cup titles between them – but the game didn’t live up to its promise.
Die Mannschaft had not missed a penalty in a shoot-out since 1982 but were on the edge of elimination after a trio of their squad failed from 12 yards.
What did you make of Mesut Ozil’s performance against Italy?
Ozil has now missed four of his last five penalties in all competitions and some even predicted he would miss from the spot kick before the game. Hector made no mistake minutes later.
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Saturday’s failures, albeit in victory, prompted Match of the Day presenter Lineker – who was part of the England team beaten on penalties by West Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-finals – to jokingly tweet: “Germany are useless at penalties these days”.
