Euro 2016 QF: Arsenal superstar scores a brilliant goal, Chelsea's £32m target scores from spot

Euro 2016 QF: Arsenal superstar scores a brilliant goal, Chelsea's £32m target scores from spot - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Jonas Hector scored the winning goal as Germany beat Italy 6-5 on penalties to book a place in the semi-final of Euro 2016.

Germany boss Joachim Low made one tactical change; he switched to a 3-5-2 formation with Howedes replacing Julian Draxler in the starting lineup. For Italy, Daniele De Rossi failed to make it to the starting XI, with Stefano Sturaro replacing him in the midfield.

After a cagey opening 14 minutes, with both sides cancelling each other out, Italy had their first real shot on target. Florenzi received a pass from the right after a nice exchange of passes in the middle; he made room by cutting inside but didn’t get enough power on his shot at the near post.

Germany were forced to make an early change as early within 15 minutes; Bastian Schweinsteiger replaced Sami Khedira, who seemed to pick up a thigh injury.

The 3-5-2 formation used by Germany saw Boateng and Hummels getting in space and could bring the ball forward. Hummels picked up Gomez in the box with a brilliant long ball delivered at the right length and height, but at full stretch, he couldn’t keep it under control.

From a dangerous looking attack, Schweinsteiger had put the ball in the back of the net, but it was disallowed for a shove on De Sciglio. Moments later Parolo made a brilliant tackle on Muller preventing a dangerous German counterattack.

What I absolutely love about proper Italian defenders is that dogged desire to not give a player an inch, looking to get anything on it.