‘Germany’s coming home’: German papers adopt stiff upper lip to hide their despair after Euro 2020 defeat and even wish ‘Dear Englishmen’ luck for the rest of the tournament
- As England’s front pages celebrated on Wednesday, German media bemoaned its national team’s 2-0 loss
- The frontpage of Berlin-based tabloid BZ lead with ‘0:2 against England: Germany’s coming home’
- ‘Dear Englishmen,’ German newspaper Express said, ‘You have brought yourselves a deserved victory’
- For many German newspapers, the finger of blame quickly turned towards outgoing manager Joachim Löw
- Thunderstorms erupted in Berlin as Germany lost the Euros clash, leaving many dejected fans drenched
- Find out the latest Euro 2020 news including fixtures, live action and results here
As England celebrated the 2-0 last-16 Euros victory on Wednesday morning, the Germans adopted what would be considered a traditionally British stiff upper lip, lamenting their team’s Wembley defeat and tournament ejection while congratulating the Three Lions on their deserved win.
Gareth Southgate’s men roared to victory with goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane securing passage to the quarter-finals, finally knocking Germany out of a major tournament in the process.
Germany’s media expressed the country’s disappointment, with tabloid newspaper Bild declaring ‘It’s all over, we’re out,’ and Abendzeitung München describing the ‘bitter’ loss.
The frontpage of Berlin-based tabloid BZ lead with ‘0:2 against England: Germany’s coming home’ on Wednesday morning, a reference to England’s ubiquitous football song released before the 1996 Euros ‘Three Lions’.
‘Dear Englishmen,’ a front page editorial by German newspaper Express began, ‘you have brought yourselves a deserved victory against us at Wembley Stadium and ended Joachim Low’s great era. You had the guts that we needed. Good luck for the rest of the European Championship!’
Die Welt went for a sobering single image of Kane scoring past a sprawling Manuel Neuer with the headline: ‘K.O. at Wembley’. Suddeutsche Zeitung ran a photo of Thomas Muller consoling an emotional Joshua Kimmich at the final whistle on its front page.
For many German newspapers, the finger of blame quickly turned towards outgoing manager Joachim Löw, who after 15 years at the helm – in which time he guided the team to a World Cup trophy in 2014 – bows out after the humiliating defeat to a team it had not lost to in a major tournament since 1966.
The front page of Bild’s website showed a dejected Löw walking away from the Wembley pitch. The main headline quoted the manager’s expressing his disappointed, while another chronicled ‘Jogi’s last descent as national coach’, alongside a photograph of manager with his head bowed on the team’s coach.
Die Welt’s website also displayed a picture of Löw standing next to his replacement Hansi Flick. ‘Only second rate. And now?’ the newspaper asked, looking to the future of Germany’s national team.
The frontpage of Berlin-based tabloid BZ lead with ‘0:2 against England: Germany’s coming home’ on Wednesday morning, a reference to England’s famous football song from the 1996 Euros ‘It’s coming home’
‘Once upon a time there was a dreaded tournament team’: The homepage of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (pictured), Germany’s most internationally read newspaper bemoaned the national team’s fall from elite status
The front page of Bild’s website (left) showed a dejected Löw walking away from the Wembley pitch. The main headline quoted the manager’s expressing his disappointed, while another chronicled ‘Jogi’s last descent as national coach’. Die Welt’s website also displayed a picture of Löw standing next to his replacement Hansi Flick. ‘Only second rate. And now?’ the newspaper asked, looking to the future of Germany’s national team
Süddeutsche Zeitung’s homepage simply said: ‘Just deeply sad’, as it gave its round-up of the match. The team, the newspaper said, ha only themselves to blame for ‘for leaving the initiative to the English’
Pictured: German fans are seen with they hands on her head in disbelief as they watched from a pub in Palma de Mallorca. As English newspapers celebrated the Three Lion’s 2-0 last-16 Euros victory on Wednesday morning’s front pages, the German media struck a very different mood, grieving their team’s Wembley defeat and tournament ejection
German fans were left in tears after England knocked their team out of the Euros on Tuesday. Pictured: A girl cries at Wembley as the nations hopes of going through to the quarter finals ebb away
Pictured: German fans react as they watch England vs Germany match on a screen during a public viewing in the courtyard of the Kulturbrauerei, in Berlin, Germany.
German fans looked close to tears as they watched their team lose at the The New Crown British Pub in Iserlohn, Germany
Pictured: A German fan sits with his head in his hands while watching his team lose to England on Tuesday
‘Germany is no longer world class. After Joachim Löw, the rebuilding will now follow under Hans-Dieter Flick. Some players do it, others don’t,’ the newspaper wrote. A second story on Die Welts front page opined: ‘After 15 long years the emptiness comes. Joachim Löw has turned German football inside out.’
Die Welt also looked at Thomas Muller’s vital miss on the 81st minute. Through on goal, Germany’s experienced campaigner was through on goal and had the chance to make it 1-1, but put the shot wide of the post. ‘In the cauldron of Wembley Germany falls behind late, Thomas Müller misses the huge chance to equalize,’ it wrote.
Muller scored two of the goals that knocked England out of the World Cup in 2010.
The homepage of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Germany’s most internationally read newspaper, bemoaned the national team’s fall from elite status. ‘Once upon a time there was a dreaded tournament team,’ the website read on Wednesday morning in reference to Germany, along with a picture of Löw looking to the floor.
‘Long before his last game, the national coach was no longer a man who could have made a difference,’ FAZ wrote, while also saying that Muller ‘no longer had the nerve and the strength to shoot the ball where it should have belonged at that moment: into the goal.’
Süddeutsche Zeitung’s homepage simply said: ‘Just deeply sad’, as it gave its round-up of the match. The team, the newspaper said, ha only themselves to blame for ‘for leaving the initiative to the English’.
With regards to Löw, SZ called his final game ‘A discouraged ending’, with another picture of Löw as he walked away from his final game incharge emblazoned across the top of the website. SZ also showed some sympathy towards its players, noting ‘saying goodbye to the national coach is clearly difficult for some players.’
Defeat was the dominant story on the front pages with player and fan dejection central
Germany’s front pages on Wednesday reacted to their Euro 2020 defeat to England which brought an end to manager Joachim Low’s time in charge after 15 years leading the team
Hamburger Morgenpost paid ‘huge respect’ to Low despite bowing out against England
Die Welt ran a sobering front page image of Harry Kane scoring past Manuel Neuer for the ‘KO in Wembley’
Prominent German fans were magnanimous in defeat.
German foreign minister Heiko Maas had bet Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab a crate of beer that his team would win. After the final whistle blew, he tweeted: ‘Congratulations Dominic Raab and England on a great win!
‘A German saying goes, “Wettschulden sind Ehrunschulden” or “betting debts are debts of honour”. So you’ll get your crate of German beer.’
German ambassador Andreas Michaelis said: ‘A much deserved victory. This great competition between England and Germany will continue.’
Former German footballer Jurgen Klinsmann praised England, telling the Three Lions: ‘It’s your tournament.’
However, German Chancellor Angel Merkel may have an uncomfortable week – she is due in London on Friday for talks with Boris Johnson.
Devastated Germans watching the Euros were drenched by thunderstorms that broke out in Berlin at the moment their heroes were defeated by the Brits.
Those watching at home were ‘absolutely devastated’ at the defeat, and in a cruel turn of the weather, the heavens opened in Berlin in the minute the whistle sounded.
Photographs from beer gardens in the capital show gutted football fans huddling under umbrellas and outdoor shelters following the loss tonight.
Devastated Germans watching the Euros were drenched by thunderstorms that broke out in Berlin at the moment their heroes were defeated by the Brits
Those watching at home were ‘absolutely devastated’ at the defeat, and in a cruel turn of the weather, the heavens opened in Berlin in the minute the final whistle sounded
Bild also claimed that the era of German coach Joachim Löw had ended ‘with what is perhaps his bitterest bankruptcy.’
Die Welt put the blame on Bayern Munich player Thomas Müller for ‘burying all German chances of advancing at this tournament,’ adding the ‘end was sealed’ after England’s second goal.
Many German fans were forced to watch the Euros clash from home due to the pandemic, with the BBC reporting the atmosphere in a Berlin beer hall was quiet following the defeat.
Reporter Jenny Hill said: ‘They are completely devastated and actually this is a bang on cue, a thunderstorm has just rolled into the sky above my head here.
German fans react after their first loss to England in major tournament since 1966 World Cup
Photographs from beer gardens in the capital show gutted football fans huddling under umbrellas and outdoor shelters following the loss tonight
Many German fans were forced to watch the Euros clash from home due to the pandemic, with the BBC reporting the atmosphere in a Berlin beer hall was quiet following the defeat
‘People were gathered [in this beer garden] to watch that terrible defeat.
‘They are really upset and I think what makes it even harder for them is that very few people here expected to lose.’
The mood was very different in England, where thousands of Britons spilled from pubs onto the streets of London, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle to celebrate a long-awaited victory over Germany.
Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane led the Three Lions to victory in a tense clash at Wembley, with fans across England now daring to dream that victory may be in sight.
Waves of rapturous applause filled the stadium as Manchester City’s Sterling first slotted the ball home, breaking a 0-0 first-half deadlock.
Media in Germany today lamented the 2-0 loss against England, after Gareth Southgate’s squad knocked the national team out of the Euro 2020 at Wembley
Kane swiftly followed up with a neat header – sending his thrilled teammates piling on their captain in celebration as chants of ‘it’s coming home’ filled the stadium.
The elation spilled into fan zones across England, with Britons proudly draping the St George’s flag over their shoulders as the squad’s first knockout tournament win against Germany in 55 years was secured.
Crowds in Three Lions jerseys later emerged from pubs and tore through the streets of London, Leeds and Newcastle, with hundreds who gathered in Leicester Square and Wembley spraying beer over onlookers and setting off colourful smoke bombs.
An estimated 25 million fans tuned in to watch the Three Lions storm to a glorious victory on the pitch, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was photographed cheering at a TV set up in the Downing Street gardens.
German fans held their heads in their hands and drowned their sorrows in beer as they watched their side lose tonight
German fans – who painted their faces in their country’s colours in anticipation – looked heartbroken after their team lost
England are set to play Ukraine in the Euro 2020 quarter-final in Rome on Saturday – with the team fancying their chances.
While the number of fans at Wembley tonight was still just over half of its normal 90,000 capacity, it marked the biggest crowd at an event seen since the pandemic began last year.
Among the spectators were avid football fan Prince William, his wife Kate Middleton and their son Prince George, who sat in a box along with football legend David Beckham and pop star Ed Sheeran.
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