Germany hit the woodwork THREE times in four minutes but lost 4-0 to Denmark as Spain toppled Finland without the Ballon d’Or-winning superstar

Germany managed to hit Denmark’s goal three times in four minutes before claiming a 4-0 victory at Euro 2022.

Spain also secured an impressive first win in Group B, beating Finland 4-1 without their Ballon d’Or-winning superstar Alexia Putellas.

AFP

Germany, eight-time winners and the tournament’s most successful side, showed exactly why with goals from Lina Magull, Lea Schuller, Lena Lattwein and Alexandra Popp securing a comfortable first win.

However, the first 15 minutes were anything but easy, with Die Nationalelf wondering what was going on.

The ninth minute saw Wolfsburg full-back Felicitas Rauch fire a long-range world shot off the crossbar, only for Sara Dabritz to fumble the rebound wide.

And less than four minutes later, Rauch was back, coming in from the left side to unleash another belt that hit the crossbar, only Schuller to direct the rebound off the post.

Schuller’s blushes were spared when the offside flag was raised, but Germany’s headers were in their hands all over the pitch as they pondered what they had to do to score.

Magull finally found the breakthrough in the 21st minute to open the floodgates, but Rauch will wonder how she didn’t end up on the scoresheet after two efforts that could easily have ended up as the tournament contenders’ goal.

BBC

BBC

BBC

Tournament favorites Spain had seen their chances take a hit with the loss of Barcelona superstar Putellas but showed few signs of letting up against Finland.

Irene Paredes, Aitana Bonmati, Lucía Garcia and Mariona Caldentey all found the net as they flew past Finland to join Germany top of Group B, whetting the appetite ahead of a showdown between the two contenders at the Community Stadium of Brentford on Tuesday.

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