Germany clinch U21 Euro title for the third time after beating Portugal

A second-half strike from Man City forward Lukas Nmecha did the job for the DFB juniors

Germany beat Portugal 1-0 last evening as it turned out to be an intense game in which the referee was forced to display half a dozen of yellow cards. Even though Portugal enjoyed the time on the ball for the most part of the game, Germany had better chances on target.

One such chance came in the 15th minute where Bayer Leverkusan’s midfielder, Florian Wirtz, took a long distance shot on goal which deflected through Diego Queiros and hit the crossbar. This seemed to be the best chance of the game and one of the magical moments.

Finally, just four minutes into the second half Germany found their breakthrough by Manchester City’s Nmecha who dribbled around goalkeeper Diogo Costa before receiving a beautiful and well timed pass by Ridle Baku. The 22-year-old, who came up through the England youth system before switching his allegiance, most recently spent a season on loan at Anderlecht, scoring 14 goals in 31 league appearances.

As Portugal pressed for a late equaliser, their defence became increasingly exposed, and they nearly conceded a second goal when Karim Adeyemi outmuscled his man before sprinting clear on goal. Rather than squaring a ball for his team-mate, though, Adeyemi went for goal and was blocked by Costa.

Lukas Nmecha was awarded the golden boot as well whereas Fabio Vieira was awarded with the golden ball award.

The senior German team are preparing for the upcoming 2020 European Championship, which was rescheduled from last summer due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Joachim Low’s side was drawn with France, Hungary and Portugal in Group F at the Euro.

Portugal defends their title in the Euro and will play Germany in Munich on June 19.

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