Germany edge into semi-finals despite stirring Italy fightback

Germany took advantage of Italian errors – including a bizarre mistake from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma – to move into the semi-finals of the Nations League, despite a late Italy fightback.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side won 2-1 in the first leg of the quarter-final at the San Siro in Milan on Thursday and completed the job in the second leg at Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park.

Having already conceded a penalty, scored by Germany captain Joshua Kimmich after Tim Kleindienst had been fouled by Alessandro Buongiorno, Donnarumma was at fault for an embarrassing second.

He tipped Kleindienst’s header over the bar but then went to remonstrate with either the referee or his team-mates and walked about eight yards off his line.

Germany capitalised through Kimmich’s quickly-taken corner from the right, which was swept into the unguarded goal by Jamal Musiala with Donnarumma out of position.

That made the score 4-1 on aggregate and it became 5-1 just before half-time when Italy lost possession when playing out from the back with Kleindienst heading in from Kimmich’s cross, for the skipper’s third goal involvement of the night.

But the tie was not over as Italy dominated the second half.

Former Everton striker Moise Kean pulled two goals back for Italy, firstly with a clinical finish into the bottom corner and then after being set up by Giacomo Raspadori.

In the fifth minute of injury-time, Italy made it 3-3 on the night as Maximilian Mittelstadt was judged to have handled the ball, with Raspadori scoring the penalty.

That made it 5-4 to Germany on aggregate but Italy could not find another goal that would have taken the tie to extra-time.

This is the fourth staging of the Nations League and Germany have made the semi-finals for the first time where they will host Portugal in June.

Through winning this quarter-final, Germany will be placed into World Cup Qualifying Group A, along with Luxembourg, Northern Ireland and Slovakia, while Italy will be in Group I with Estonia, Israel, Moldova and Norway.

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