After Germany beat them to a place in the Euro 2016 semi-final after penalties in Bordeaux, Buffon’s emotions were raw as he struggled to hold back the tears. Joachim Löw’s World Champions were back at base on Sunday, licking their wounds after a draining quarter-final with Italy in Bordeaux on Saturday night, recuperating and finding out who they will play in Thursday’s semi-final in Marseille.
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“I’ve never experienced a penalty shootout like it before”, Neuer said.
A nervy 30 minutes of extra time brought no more goals, so it went to penalties and Neuer saved brilliantly from Matteo Darmian and Leonardo Bonucci, who had earlier equalised for Italy from the penalty spot in the 78th minute.
“He shows his quality in every game, he makes more saves in shoot-outs than any other goalkeeper in the world, that’s a fact”.
Looking at all the games he has played for his National Team, Mesut Özil had a very quiet game by his standards. “I feel we have left a strong path that can take our colors higher and higher”.
“I was very happy that I did because I worked out which shot would work well for me today – because it worked well yesterday”.
And Pogba admits that while Germany will provide a tough test, the same could have been said of Antonio Conte’s side had they progressed. “I am sure all the other teams in the semi-finals would have liked that the Germans to go home, but it has not turned out like that”.
Through a combination of grit, personality and a lot of dramatic gesticulating on the touchlines, he transformed a team who suffered their second successive first-round exit from the World Cup in 2014 into bona fide title contenders at Euro 2016.
“Being beaten by Germany on penalties is no shame, I am proud of what these players did”.
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We took a look at how Arsenal fans reacted on social media to the Germany global of Turkish origin missing yet another spot kick. We achieved an objective at this European Championship where we were respected by all and we matched the world champions. “We made the players truly aware that it’s a privilege to wear the shirt”.
