Courtesy: Google
A 3-3 draw, which had including a late added time goal, was not enough for Italy as they ended up crashing out of the UEFA Nations League quarter-final after losing 5-4 to Germany on aggregate on Sunday, March 23, 2025, at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund. A stand-out performance from captain Joshua Kimmich over both the legs, means that Germany have found themselves among the top four teams of the Nations League, and will face Portugal in the semi-finals.
While Germany took a solid 3-0 lead in the first half itself, Italy fought back hard to come from behind and score three goals in the second half. Alas, their efforts went into vain as they lost by a single goal on the aggregate scoreline. A telling moment from the game was the second goal for Germany, scored by Jamial Musiala, which came through a combination of smart and quick thinking from Germany along with a lapse of concentration and focus from Donnaruma and the Italian defense.
After saving a headed effort that went out for a corner in the 36th minute, Donnaruma stepped up from his goal-line and went to talk to his defenders. Kimmich, who was taking the corner kick, noticed this and quickly played a low pass to Musiala who was standing all alone in front of the goal, and made no mistake to convert the chance as Germany almost got a free-goal to their name.
Germany’s captain Joshua Kimmich leads from the front
This smart piece of play was not the only moment of brilliance for Joshua Kimmich as he scored the first goal and gave another assist, picking up the player of the match award at the end. In all of the five goals scored by Germany over the two legs, Kimmich was directly involved in all of them; scoring one and providing four assists.
Italy’s forward Moise Kean, tried his best to inspire a comeback for his team by scoring two brilliant goals in the second half. In fact, Italy was also awarded a late penalty, which was converted brilliantly by Raspadori. However all of this went to waste as the Italians could not manage to overcome one goal’s deficit, losing by 5-4 on aggregate.
