Germany’s task was to avoid the curse of group winners in the U21 Euros semi-final. England, the Netherlands and France prevailed after hard-fought games against Spain, Portugal and Denmark in a

Germany Under-21s scored a 117th-minute winner against the nine men of Italy to reach the European Championship semi-finals. The Italians, who played the entire extra-time period with a two-man disadvantage, looked to have held out for an unlikely penalty shootout until Merlin Rohl struck to send Antonio di Salvo's side through into the last four.

Germany required extra time to defeat nine-man Italy, while France twice came from behind to beat Denmark in the quarter-finals.