England v Germany chaos as players accused of beer theft by 'distraught' woman

Irish Daily Mirror

a day ago

In a bizarre twist to their Euro final preparations, Germany's Under-21 team have been embroiled in a scandal involving accusations of nicking beer glasses following their semi-final victory over France. An apparently "distraught" woman, reported to be a VIP host at the Kosicka Futbalova Arena, was spotted in tears while charging towards the German team coach — sidestepping stewards and an armed guard to snap pictures.
The incident surfaced after the squad's win, according to Bild as quoted by The Sun. While reports suggest she thought the team filched the glasses, Markus Beer, the Germany Under-21 press officer, has absolved his team: "It was all completely different. The woman had brought several beer mugs into the catacombs, presumably for the referees. Then later, empty mugs were there, which were suddenly gone," Beer explained insisting on the players' innocence, adding, "Someone must have thrown them away. She obviously thought our players had simply taken them. But that was definitely not the case."
Amidst the mayhem, Germany is focused on clinching the European Championships title, boasting an unblemished record en route to the final where they face England, a team they edged out 2-1 during the group phase and later triumphed over Italy with extra-time heroics in the quarter-finals.
Germany breezed into the final, taking an early lead against France with goals from Nelson Wieper and Nick Woltemade within the first 15 minutes. Brighton's rising star Brajan Gruda sealed the deal in stoppage time, ensuring a comfortable win.
England, on the other hand, had to dig deep, scraping through their group with just four points. They replicated last year's final by knocking out Spain in the quarters and edged past the Netherlands in the semis, thanks to Harvey Elliott's crucial double, reports the Mirror.
After his decisive performance, Elliott reflected on the importance of stepping up when it counts: "You can speak as much as you want on the pitch, you can say whatever, but at the end of the day when the moment comes and you need to show up, and you need to, for example, in my situation, score a goal," he said, drawing inspiration from Liverpool teammates Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk's pivotal roles in their title triumph.
"It's about how you take that, and those opportunities are vital. Today I'm just so happy I was able to contribute and get the two goals to win us the game."