Klara Buhl insists Germany will ‘enjoy the moment’ after reaching semi-finals

Klara Buhl insisted Germany will “enjoy the moment” after reaching their 10th Euros semi-final with a 2-0 win over Austria.

Lina Magull opened the scoring for Germany in the 25th minute from a cleverly-crafted move, before they netted their second late in the match when a poor clearance from Manuela Zinsberger rebounded off Germany captain Alexandra Popp and into the back of the net.

“Everyone is in a great mood, we are very happy with the game and that we qualified so we are all in a good mood and showing emotions,” Buhl – who was voted player of the match – said.

“We’re happy that we reached the semi-final so we want to enjoy the evening, so until tomorrow morning we just want to let our emotions out and enjoy the moment.

“The atmosphere here was mega, the spectators were there and we savour that and try to do something back and we managed to do that.

“From tomorrow we will have the focus on the semi-final, of course we want to reach the final but we have to go step by step to reach that.”

Eight-time European champions Germany remained in the hunt to add to their impressive record in the competition and have still not conceded in Euro 2022, and manager Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was pleased with the display.

“First of all we are very very happy that we won 2-0. I think we were deserved winners, it was a tough game, a good opponent, they played good set pieces,” the head coach said.

“It was a great game for the fans, so respect and compliments to Austria because they did exactly what we expected them to do, so we are very happy that we won this one and have progressed in the semi-final.”

Austria manager Irene Fuhrmann believes England and Germany are on the same level, after her side were beaten by the latter in the quarter-final and the hosts in the opening game of the tournament.

“It’s very difficult to compare (between England and Germany),” she said.

“I think both teams have a lot of individual quality and a depth in the squad, maybe England play a bit more vertically but Germany have very fast players, so I think two teams that are pretty much on the same level.”

Fuhrmann admitted her pride in her squad despite the defeat and has already set her target on World Cup qualification.

“I am disappointed but very proud, a few years ago this would not have been possible to play like that and keep the game open for so long, but we should have scored a goal against Germany but we developed continuously in this tournament,” Fuhrmann said.

“If we can take this consistency forward maybe we can qualify for the World Cup for the first time.”