Women's Euro exit shows once-mighty Germany battling to keep pace

A courageous German performance in their 1-0 Women's Euro semi-final defeat by world champions Spain means they leave Switzerland with heads high, but the once-dominant team need to find a cutting attacking edge to keep up with the best.

Spain playmaker Aitana Bonmati proved to be the difference, conjuring up a superb winner in extra time.

Though Christian Wueck's young side performed well on the night, they lacked a truly world-class attacking talent to turn a game in their favour at such a high level.

"We have to evolve, we have to improve, we had phases of ball possession today that we simply did not exploit well, and those are areas where we need to improve, especially in the youth system, so that we can develop well-trained players for the Bundesliga," Wueck told reporters. 

"Also (we need to) perform better in those phases of ball possession that were not well-executed today, especially at that level. That is part of being a top team, and of course we are still lacking in comparison to Spain and England."

Spain face England in Sunday's final.

Eight-time champions Germany have not won the tournament since 2013 in Stockholm, and in the meantime they have been reined in and passed by as other countries pour money into the development of the women's game. 

The 2013 victory was built on the back of the stunning goalkeeping of Nadine Angerer, who saved two penalties in the final against Norway, and the 2025 squad looked to have a similar net-minding talisman in the shape of Ann-Katrin Berger, who pulled off a miraculous save in their quarter-final against France to prevent an own goal. 

Berger followed that up with a stellar performance in the penalty shootout win over the French that followed, but on Wednesday she was caught