da blaze casino： The Real Sociedad man headed home with just over 60 seconds of extra-time remaining to claim a dramatic – but deserved – 2-1 win for La Roja
da spicy bet： The best team at Euro 2024 are through to the semi-finals of Euro 2024 – but only just. Spain's winning goal in Friday's absorbing last-eight encounter with Germany only arrived in the 119th minute, while they finished with 10 men following Dani Carvajal's red card, but nobody would dare dispute that La Roja deserved to progress.
Luis de la Fuente's men played the better football for the majority of the game and dealt brilliantly with the blow of losing Pedri to injury after just eight minutes – and the injustice of not seeing Toni Kroos sent off long before Carvajal's dismissal.
Once again, Rodri ran the show for Spain, but Dani Olmo was their game-changer, with Pedri's replacement converting Lamine Yamal's low cross to open the scoring before creating the winner for Mikel Merino, after Florian Wirtz had forced extra-time with an 89th-minute equaliser.
Below, GOAL rates all of the Spain players on show after a cracking quarter-final in Stuttgart…
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Unai Simon (6.5/10):
Made a decent stop from Andrich in the closing stages of normal time but he got nervy the longer the game went on. Left counting his blessings after getting away with a horrible kick-out with eight minutes to go and then made a mess of a cross from Musiala in extra-time.
Dani Carvajal (6/10):
Had a great game but the yellow card he picked up for a deliberate handball left him walking a tightrope and he elected to jump off it in the dying seconds in order to snuff out a dangerous German attack. He'd have been ruled out of the semis anyway, so he'll feel it was the right call.
Robin Le Normand (5.5/10):
Given what had gone before, booked so harshly for clipping Gundogan in midfield and that resulted in De la Fuente deciding to take him off at the break.
Aymeric Laporte (7.5/10):
Hard not to wonder what he's doing in the Saudi Pro League. This was another commanding display, with Laporte making one big clearance after another and so comfortable in possession. Even ventured for a crack on goal at one point!
Marc Cucurella (7/10):
Rather bizarrely didn't see yellow for taking out Gundogan with a far worse challenge than that of Le Normand. Lucky, but overall the tenacious Chelsea left-back played well again, creating the odd chance going forward and defending diligently.
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Pedri (N/A):
Taken out of the game by a dreadful challenge from Kroos inside the opening 10 minutes that referee Taylor cowardly decided wasn't worthy of a booking. Such a cruel blow for a young player that has been plagued by injuries.
Rodri (8/10):
Lucky to avoid a yellow after hauling down Musiala in the first half but barely put a foot wrong thereafter, making a couple of crucial interventions in the area, while at the same time repeatedly winning possession and nearly never giving it away.
Fabian Ruiz (7.5/10):
Another impressive display from the PSG man, who is always capable of producing a little bit of magic to get away from his man. Integral to Spain getting the ball to their wingers as quickly as possible while also working hard defensively. His injury-enforced exit was a blow.
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Lamine Yamal (7.5/10):
His shots may lack a bit of power but that'll come. The kid is still only 16, after all, and yet he's a constant thorn in the side of even the most experienced of full-backs. Had created a good chance for Morata before teeing up Olmo for his third assist of the tournament.
Alvaro Morata (6.5/10):
Wasted his best chance, blazing over the bar after doing so well to spin away from his man, but went some way towards making amends by playing his part in the build-up to the opener. Spain are really just lacking a lethal finisher, but you can't fault the captain's work-rate, even if he did pick up a booking for celebrating too wildly that will rule him out of the semi-final.
Nico Williams (7/10):
Always a threat with his blistering pace and linked really well with Yamal (feels like we could be saying that a lot over the next decade!) before running out of steam after the hour mark.
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Dani Olmo (8.5/10):
Came on far earlier than he would have expected and immediately caused problems, with Rudiger promptly booked for taking out the winger. Took his goal wonderfully well and drew an awful lot of fouls with his dangerous dribbling before creating the winner.
Nacho (6.5/10):
The veteran centre-back took over in defence from Le Normand at the start of the second half and did reasonably well – but he must have been so relieved to see a near-post effort from Fullkrug, who caused him problems, come back off the post.
Ferran Torres (5/10):
Replaced Yamal on the right wing but didn't offer anything like the same attacking threat and missed a great chance in the dying seconds.
Mikel Oyarzabal (6.5/10):
Only introduced with fewer than 10 minutes to play and went close with a good strike from distance in extra-time.
Mikel Merino (7.5/10):
Part of a double-substitution with Real Sociedad team-mate Oyarzabal and created a couple of good chances before heading Spain into the semis!
Joselu (5.5/10):
Went up front in extra-time, after Ruiz had hobbled off, but didn't get a clear sight of goal.
Luis de la Fuente (7.5/10):
Was rightly fuming that Kroos escaped a booking for his game-ending challenge on Pedri but he quickly calmed down and made a couple of clever calls, sending Olmo on for the stricken Barcelona man, before taking Le Normand out of a game being officiated by a card-happy referee. Also dealt brilliantly with the shock of conceding a late leveller to enable Spain to regain control of the game, with another sub, Merino, coming up trumps right at the death.