Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger has revealed why he intentionally chose to stage Saturday night’s Euro 2016 penalty shootout in front of the Italy supporters.
The 2014 World Cup winners had never beaten Italy in a knockout fixture at a major tournament, with the Azzurri undefeated in eight competitive meetings prior to the quarter-final clash in Bordeaux.
But Joachim Low’s side tore up the record books to dump Italy out of the competition after one of the most captivating of penalty shootouts in recent memory.
Germany won 6-5, with a number of players fluffing their lines for both sides, the 2014 World Cup winners missing more penalties (3) than they had in their six previous penalty shootouts at major tournaments combined (2).
But although Germany’s poor attempts were certainly surprising, the most shocking thing of all was Schweinsteiger’s decision to stage the kicks in front of the Italian end of the Stade de Bordeaux.
Schweinsteiger, Germany’s captain, took the armband after entering the fray in the 16th minute when Sami Khedira was forced off through injury.
He won the coin toss to decide which end the penalties would be held, but strangely opted for the end hosting the Italian supporters. As seen in the video below, the referee was just as baffled by the Manchester United midfielder’s bewildering decision.
Schweinsteiger missed his penalty kick but Germany ultimately prevailed, and with the dust now settled, the 31-year-old has now revealed his reasoning behind the decision.
“Yes, I won both coin flips,” he said, as quoted by Bild. “I thought back how previous penalty shoot-outs went.
“I remembered the shoot out in Munich (Bayern’s Champions League final defeat to Chelsea), when we did it at our stand.
“Then I remembered the shoot out in Madrid (when Bayern won on penalties in the Champions League semi-finals), where we did it in front of the Madrid stand.
“The first penalty shoot out of this Euro was won by Poland, who chose to do it in front of the swiss stand. So I thought, let’s shoot at the Italian side, and give the Italian fans something to be happy about.”
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