Euro 2024: Germany's Julian Nagelsmann fumes at handball call - ESPN

Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann railed against the decision not to award his side a handball in Friday's Euro 2024 quarterfinal defeat to Spain that saw the hosts exit the competition.

Germany equalised in the 89th minute to send the game to extra time at 1-1, only for Spain's Mikel Merino to score a 119th-minute winner.

However, the game could have been set on a different course had Germany's appeals for a penalty not been waved away when the ball struck Marc Cucurella's hand in extra time.

Nagelsmann criticised the decision, saying the impact of the potential handball — stopping a shot that was destined to be on target — should be taken into consideration, adding that modern technology could make the process seamless.

«I don't want to talk too much about it [the handball],» Nagelsmann said, «but it would be nice if it would be assessed what is the intention. It's not possible in football if someone shoots into the stand and hits a hand, it's never [a penalty], but when [the ball is] clearly going towards goal and hits a hand, you can't talk about intention.

»You have to see where the shot is aimed. We have 50 robots bringing us coffee, so there should be an AI calculating crosses, shots, where they are going. It's quite simple. We should really assess where the shot is going, but that is not the only reason we lost the game."

Nagelsmann congratulated Spain on their victory but was disappointed for his players after the huge effort they put in.

«The whole game was too open, and then in the second half, we reacted with our personnel in a good way and we came better into the game,» Nagelsmann said. «And after the 60th minute, we were clearly the better team with many clear chances and towards the end I think that we