Euro 2024: Germany weather storm in last 16, holders Italy knocked out by Switzerland

The European Championship knockout round gets under way with the hosts reaching the last eight and holders going home

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Germany’s players celebrate with Kai Havertz after he opened the scoring in their last-16 victory over Denmark. Photo: AP

Published: 10:27am, 30 Jun 2024Updated: 1:07pm, 1 Jul 2024

Hosts Germany beat Denmark 2-0 in a storm-interrupted encounter to reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2024, after reigning champions Italy were knocked out by Switzerland.

Two second-half goals, one a Kai Havertz penalty and another a Jamal Musiala strike, allowed Germany to come out on top in Dortmund, where the last-16 tie was halted for 25 minutes late in the first half as a violent storm passed overhead.

English referee Michael Oliver was forced to take the two teams off the pitch because of torrential rain, hailstones, high winds, thunder and lightning, while some fans in the crowd of 60,000 found themselves caught underneath torrents of water streaming from the stadium roof.

Before that, Germany had an early Nico Schlotterbeck goal disallowed for a foul and were denied on several occasions by Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

When play resumed, Germany thought they had fallen behind early in the second half when Joachim Andersen scored, but his effort was ruled out for offside following a VAR review, and the unfortunate Danish defender was then penalised for a handball in his own box moments later.

Germany’s last-16 clash with Denmark was temporarily halted because of a storm which saw streams of rainwater fall from the stadium roof. Photo: AP

Havertz dispatched the spot-kick to put Germany ahead in the 53rd minute, and both he and Leroy Sane missed good opportunities before Musiala ran clear to make it 2-0 midway through the second half.