Pedri knee injury hampers Spain win over Germany at Euro 2024

Spain star Pedri suffered a fairly significant knee injury on Friday during his side’s game against Germany in the Euro 2024 quarterfinals. The 21-year-old only lasted eight minutes during Spain‘s matchup with the hosts on Friday. While set to break on a counter attack, Pedri was harshly brought down by Toni Kroos in the German half. The Spanish starlet immediately held his knee following the tough tackle by the Real Madrid veteran.

Before the match could even finish, the Spanish soccer federation confirmed that Pedri endured a knee sprain during the clash. The unfortunate setback will now force the budding star to miss the remaining Euros tournament. Despite the hard tackle, Kroos was somehow not even booked by English referee Anthony Taylor.

The unfortunate news regarding the Spaniard only adds to the starlet’s injury issues. Pedri has previously suffered nine injuries over the last three years. Because of these problems, the youngster has missed a total of 85 matches for club and country. It remains to be seen how the latest setback will affect the attacking midfielder’s preparations for the 2024/25 season with Barcelona.

Fixture between two heavyweights featured many hard fouls

The early hard foul by Kroos set the tone for the entire fixture. The matchup between the two sides was a physical battle throughout the game. Both teams combined to commit 29 total fouls in 90 minutes. To put this into perspective, each of the last two Euro 2024 knockout round matchups featured 17 total fouls.

Along with the plethora of tough tackles, there were also a series of yellow cards in the game as well. Many of these bookings came directly from the overly physical matchup. Spain and Germany combined to accumulated nine total yellow cards in the first 90 minutes alone.

With Pedri out early, Spain manager Luis de la Fuente opted to replace the star with fellow midfielder Dani Olmo. While the injury was unfortunate, the substitution certainly worked out. Olmo eventually put Spain ahead against Germany in the 52nd minute with a neat finish into the bottom corner of the net.

The move for the goal initially started from striker Alvaro Morata. The center forward found teenage sensation Lamine Yamal down the right flank of the pitch. Yamal, in plenty of space, showed maturity and patience before grabbing the assist.

Instead of rushing the play, the youngster waited until he found Olmo making a clever run into the box. The substitute then calmly slotted a shot past a diving Manuel Neuer to give his team the lead. Yamal’s assist was his third goal-creating pass of the tournament so far.

Substitutes help bury Spain late in Euro 2024 quarterfinals

After a flurry of chances, Germany finally netted an equalizer in the 89th minute of the match. Max Mittelstadt created the chance with a hopeful cross into the Spanish box. The ball somehow found Joshua Kimmich deep in the area. The defender then headed a pass back to Florian Wirtz just a few yards from goal. Wirtz improvised his shot by firing the ball into the ground and beyond a stunned Unai Simon.

The strike by the attacking midfielder was Germany’s fourth goal from a substitute at Euro 2024. This is now more than any other side at the competition. The goal also sent the match to extra time as well.

With the game looking set for a penalty shootout, substitute Mikel Merino scored in the 119th minute to put Spain ahead for good. Olmo once again was at the center of the goal, as he sent a perfect cross towards Merino inside the box. Looking like a center forward, the central midfielder headed the ball into the back of the net.

Spain dramatically moved on to the semifinals, but they will be without multiple key players. Robin Le Normand and Alvaro Morata were bot booked in Friday’s game, meaning that they are now suspended for Spain’s next game. Dani Carvajal picked up two yellow cards in the match and was sent off. And, of course, Pedri’s tournament is now over. La Roja will next face the winner of France and Portugal.

PHOTOS: IMAGO