Wirtz brace puts Germany U21s in Euro final

As in the dramatic quarter-final victory over Denmark, the Werkself youngster Wirtz was in the starting eleven - and he only needed 30 seconds to make a lasting impression: A cross with the outside of his foot from Lukas Nmecha was forced into the back of the net at the near post – a dream start for Germany with the first U21 goal scored by our midfielder.

But that was not enough for the 18-year-old: A few minutes later, Wirtz received the ball in the middle, set himself up with a fine dummy and hit the ball from the edge of the box into the bottom left corner – a goal that underlined the incredible quality of the forward (8').

Wirtz misses out on Hat-trick

Wirtz, at 18 the youngest player in the match, remained the most conspicuous player on the pitch even after his brace and he played a big part in the Germany U21s continuing to control the game against a strong Dutch side. He could have scored a hat-trick on 33 minutes but the Dutch keeper Justin Bijlow made the save. Mergim Berisha almost made it 3-0 for Germany just before that but the RB Salzburg striker hit the inside of the post with a free kick (20'). The best opportunity for the Oranje fell to Leipzig's Justin Kluivert but the Germany keeper Finn Dahmen was able to make the save (22'). The shot-stopper was again preferred to the Werkself keeper Lennart Grill who watched the game from the subs' bench.

Oranje score- tense finish

After the restart, the team under coach Stefan Kuntz almost sealed victory but Berisha was twice denied by the post: The forward, who hit the frame of the goal in the first half, hit the woodwork twice within a few seconds on the hour mark. Germany were left with a tense finish as the Netherlands pulled a goal back with central defender Perr Schuurs scoring from a corner (67').

Wirtz was taken off just after the Dutch goal with a slight knock and he had to watch from the bench as the Dutch pressed for the equaliser in the closing stages. The nearest they came to scoring was a strike from Myron Boadu that was ruled offside (85'). They were unable to level and the two goals from Wirtz made the difference for Germany on the night.

Final on sunday

Germany will play Portugal in the final on Sunday, 6 June (kick-off: 21.00 CEST) after the Iberian semi-final saw them beat Spain 1-0. A current Werkself player has scored for Germany in the last two finals of the U21 European championship: Mitchell Weiser scored the only goal of the game against Spain in 2017 and Nadiem Amiri scored against the same team in 2019 in a 2-1 defeat. A good omen for another Wirtz goal?