Germany survive hair pull as France lose their heads and Euro 2025 quarter-final

Independent

19 hours ago

It was Germany pulling at hair, but it was France losing their heads. Astonishingly, Kathrin Hendrich's 13th-minute red card for yanking the hair of France captain Griedge Mbock in the box only becomes a footnote in the grand scheme of Germany's epically chaotic quarter-final victory in Basel. Down to 10 players for well over two hours of play, once additional time and stoppages were added, Germany survived to reach penalties then subjected France to their worst nightmare.
And so France have still never beaten Germany at a major tournament; nor will they have a better chance to do so. A young, confident, vibrant team that had steamrolled England to top their group instead froze under the pressure of the opportunity that lay ahead of them. What could have been a semi-final with Spain and a shot at a first major final now goes to Germany; their players gave everything, after Hendrich left them with the mountain to climb.
France lost this, their doomed attempt at saving themselves from the ultimate bottle-job summed up by a simply atrocious first penalty from Amel Majri in the decisive shoot-out. But Germany also showed guts: Ann-Katrin Berger was the hero, with a stunning save in extra time and then having the courage, after what happened to Jennifer Falk two nights ago in Zurich, to take Germany's fifth penalty. Sjoeke Nusken redeemed herself after her earlier miss. Then the pressure was too much for the 21-year-old Alice Sombath, with Berger making one final save to send Germany through.
Somewhere in St Jakob Park, Hendrich could breathe a sigh of relief. Her red card for pulling Mbock's hair was a moment of madness that looked to have cost Germany a place in semi-finals and she could have had no complaints. Although, actually, she did. The Germany defender reacted in disbelief to the sight of the red card, appealing to the referee Tess Olofsson, who explained her decision with a tug of her own ponytail. The initial confusion in St Jakob Park was followed by perhaps the most unique on-screen announcement of the VAR era: 'Decision overturned: penalty kick – red card: Germany's player No3 pulled the hair of her opponent.'
France were awarded a penalty too as Mbock was in the box attempting to reach a cross when Hendrich pulled her back by her long braids, and Grace Geyoro squeezed her spot-kick past Berger.
"What are you doing!?" 😐
A moment of madness as Germany's Kathrin Hendrich is sent off for a hair pull and gives away a penalty pic.twitter.com/peTwKnMdAy
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 19, 2025
So, a goal down, a player down, with the starting centre-back sent off and the starting right back Sarai Linder hobbling off with a foot injury - to add to captain Giulia Gwinn's absence and Carlotta Wamser's suspension, having been sent off in the 4-1 thrashing to Sweden in their last match - well, you could say Germany were up against it.
But it also added to the expectation that France would win, and that turned out to be a suffocating burden.
After all, history was not on their side. France may have won all 11 matches they had played since the turn of the year, romping through the group stages of the Euros, but they had never beaten Germany at a World Cup or Euros in five attempts. With just two semi-final appearances to speak of, the quarter-finals had been a frequent hurdle for France. Germany still stood as an end-of-level boss: the final barrier to clear before entering a new dawn.
At the same time, wouldn't it be so very France to lose? Wouldn't it just be so Germany to win? And what followed in Basel after Hendrich's red card was a fascinating study of what would break first, France's past or France themselves. And Germany seemed to sense this too, with their record eight European titles and two World Cups, with the muscle memory of doing what it takes to win.
Germany showed what fight looks like, Rebecca Knaak and Janina Minge patched up a defence that had been creaking at this tournament until it had to stand up or collapse completely. The bright young wingers Jule Brand and Klara Bühl put the team above their talent and dropped in as full-backs. Giovanna Hoffman chased the lost causes. Nusken was everywhere in midfield, and then she was unmarked, rising at the front post to flick Germany level from a corner and suddenly all of France's worst fears are unfolding right in front of their eyes.
But we're only 25 minutes in, and there's loads of time left for France to play against 10, and the chances keep coming. Except, they also start becoming their own blows in this psychological torture: Delphine Cascarino finishes a lovely move to with an instinctive back-heel, but her toe is offside. Geyoro finally thumps in a rebound after waves and waves of French pressure, but Maëlle Lakrar is offside and interfering in front of the goalkeeper, so a second goal is disallowed. Do you ever get a feeling where it's not going to be your day?
France have also stopped playing. The lovely triangles involving Sakina Karchaoui, Selma Bacha and Cascarino have disappeared. Oriane Jean-François and Geyoro are no longer controlling the midfield with the same authority. Gradually, all of the fun of their group stage is being sucked out of them. Germany use every moment they can to slow, to stall - and there really is no one better at this job than Ann-Katrin Berger - just to let what's unfolding for France sink a little deeper. Then Bacha clumsily bumps into Brand and in a tangle of legs and, really, this nightmare is actually happening.
But Germany have the manners to extend it for as long as possible: Nusken added to the penalty misses at Euro 2025, as Pauline Peyraud-Magnin guesses correctly to her right. It's the first time where 10-player Germany have lacked any conviction, and the first time France have shown some of theirs.
So extra time arrives and France, with twice as much possession, twice as many shots and four times the passes, are still level. Germany head coach Christian Wuck even makes a change, replacing the exhausted Hoffman with Lea Schuller.
But Germany are really hanging on now, playing, ironically enough, for penalties. Berger keeps them in it with an astonishing save to claw out Minge's wayward header that went looping up and then down and looked to be finding the net before the goalkeeper managed to somehow scramble back and reach behind her. France don't create a chance, right until Melvine Malard tries her luck and hits the top of the bar from range.
To penalties. But France already knew what was coming. By that point, so did Germany.