Euro 2024 resumed with a bang on Saturday — as thunder and temporarily delayed Germany’s advance to the quarter-finals.
When the storm cleared, the hosts blew away Denmark, winning 2-0, the same score by which Switzerland shocked holders Italy earlier in the day to become the first team to advance from the last 16.
Here our writers explain the key moments from day 16.
Lightning stops play
After several days of hot weather, the skies above Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park had been gathering throughout the evening. Earlier in the day, several fan zones were closed by German authorities due to the storm risk.
Thunder and lightning could be heard from afar, with the rain arriving after 32 minutes of Germany’s last 16 game against Denmark. Soon after, lightning flashes could be seen from inside the stadium, with two to three ear-splitting cracks of thunder.
Around 30 seconds after the loudest clap, English referee Michael Oliver led the teams from the pitch with Germany in possession. Initially, they sheltered in their dug-outs, before the rain intensified and they moved inside to their changing rooms. Large hailstones then rained down for two to three minutes.
The suspension lasted for around 24 minutes — with preparations to restart occurring as soon as the lighting had moved out of the area. Players reemerged from their changing rooms five minutes before the resumption, and waited momentarily for groundstaff to test the pitch. At the start of the second-half, Oliver appeared to speak to both captains again after thunder was heard in the distance.
Ultimately the worst of the storms stayed away and Germany advanced to the quarter-finals.
Referees have the discretion to halt play if conditions are ever deemed unsafe — with the risk of a lightning strike on the pitch falling squarely into that category. In theory, it is entirely the referee’s choice — although they might be fed advice by their linesmen or fourth official.
With the game suspended, an attempt is made to sweep away the water (Photo: Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
If the weather had been so bad that the game had to be suspended overnight, UEFA regulations dictate that it is played the next day at the same venue, if necessary without spectators. There will also be an emergency back-up venue, in case the reason for the suspension made the original stadium unfit to host.
As soon as the game was suspended, UEFA flashed a message up on the screen which read: “Due to bad weather conditions the match has been suspended. Further information will follow shortly.” The message was displayed in three languages — German, Danish, and English.
There were waterfalls coming off the roof of Signal Iduna Park before Georgia’s meeting with Turkey on the opening weekend of the tournament amid heavy rain. That was repeated on Saturday night amidst even worse weather conditions — with three large waterfalls falling from the roof onto fans. The worst of these was directly over the Danish end, near the German TV studios — several Denmark fans took the opportunity to dance shirtless in the rain.
Due to the intensity of the rain, groundstaff needed to ensure the pitch was not waterlogged — but those checks only led to a delay of less than five minutes once the lightning abated.
This is not the first time it has happened at the Euros. Twelve years ago, at Euro 2012, a group stage match between hosts Ukraine and France was suspended in the fifth minute due to lightning. On that occasion, referee Bjorn Kuipers kept the players off the pitch for 58 minutes. As a result, the following match, between England and Sweden, kicked off 15 minutes later than planned.
Water falls from the roof of the stadium (Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Back in 2009, a professional in the Danish top flight, Jonathan Richter, was struck by lightning while playing in a training match for FC Nordsjaelland. He was in a coma for almost two weeks, and ultimately needed to have his lower leg amputated.
More recently, a game between Real Salt Lake and LAFC in Utah was suspended this March after just four minutes when lightning was seen near the stadium. Major League Soccer (MLS) has a mandatory 30-minute postponement.
However, generally lighting delays are a much more common sight in golf — where the players are more exposed on more open tracts of land. For example, the Travelers Championship last week was suspended twice due to storms.
Jacob Whitehead
Italy exit puts coach Spalletti’s future on the line
The interpretation cut out and Luciano Spalletti didn’t get the translation from the German. The Italy coach asked the reporter to repeat the question. It came back different from the original but the interpreter back at the International Broadcasting Centre remembered it word-for-word. “Were Switzerland a Ferrari tonight and Italy a Fiat Panda?” Spalletti does not suffer fools gladly. He spent the press conference after the 1-1 draw against Croatia in a verbal joust with a journalist about the word “pact” under the assumption players were leaking information to the media.
When the full Italian version of the question finally made it into his ear, Spalletti stared down from his desk and said: “You’re a wonderful exponent of sarcasm.” Two can play at that game. He raised a sarcastic thumbs up. “You’re right. What more can we say. You have to accept anything, even rather tasteless allusions like yours.”
You also have to accept calls for your resignation too. Spalletti still spoke in the future tense when he talked about Italy. “The results have said that we need to change things. That’s been the footballing verdict and I’ll be forced to do so,” he said matter of factly.
Spalletti’s future is on the line (Photo: Masashi Hara/Getty Images)
The end of the holders’ title defence at this Euros doesn’t necessarily mean the end of his nine-month tenure. Retaining it always seemed ambitious, unrealistic. This tournament was supposed to be about taking strides forward before the upcoming qualifiers for the World Cup, a competition Italy haven’t qualified for in a decade. Instead, Italy went backwards. They only won once and that win came against Albania. They fell behind in all four games. Strikers Gianluca Scamacca, Mateo Retegui and Giacomo Raspadori all failed to score. The defence didn’t work. Nor did the attack.
Italy have undoubtedly experienced far worse results than Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Switzerland. It will not go down in ignominy like Korea in 1966 or, more recently North Macedonia in 2022. But what about the performances in Germany? The timid and vapid display at the Olympiastadion was bad. But was it as bad as against Spain in Gelsenkirchen? “If we failed, we failed, and we failed because of my team selection and in terms of how I conducted myself,” Spalletti said. “It’s never down to the players.”
His future will be defined on Sunday when he appears beside the Italian Football Federation’s president Gabriele Gravina at a special press conference at their training base in Iserlohn.
James Horncastle
Five cruel minutes
In the 49th minute of Denmark’s defeat by Germany, Joachim Andersen was celebrating what should have been the greatest moment of his career.
The centre-back crashed a shot past the Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer after Christian Eriksen’s free-kick had bounced around in the box. Andersen slid on the turf and was mobbed by his team-mates but the goal was disallowed because Thomas Delaney was offside in the build-up.
Replays showed Delaney’s toe was fractionally ahead of Robert Andrich. Andersen had never scored for Denmark before and he looked stunned when he found out the goal had been disallowed following a VAR check.
To make matters worse, he conceded a penalty a few minutes later when he tried to block David Raum’s cross but it struck his right hand.
Kai Havertz stepped up and scored even though Kasper Schmeichel dived the right way. It was a nightmare five-minute spell for Andersen which reminded everybody of how cruel football at the highest level can be.
It must have been difficult to process going from the hero to the villain so quickly. Andersen’s horrid evening was rounded off when Musiala burst past him to score Germany’s second and then received a booking for dissent.
What’s next?
The round of 16 continues on Monday with England attempting to find their form after a scratchy group stage when they play Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen. Debutants Georgia provided the biggest shock of the group stages when they beat Portugal and their “reward” is a tie with Spain, three times winners, who won all three of their group games.
- England v Slovakia (5pm BST/12pm ET)
- Spain v Georgia (8pm BST/3pm ET)
(Photo: Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
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