They enjoyed the lightness of being.

It was an evening straight out of a summer picture book, the sky had first turned bright red, then the moon shone in a cloudless sky and the mild wind blew through the streets around the decorative Brentford Community Stadium.

The German players were freshly showered and with wet hair in front of the bus and although team manager Maika Fischer urged them to leave at the late hour, they wore a mask because Corona is still a problem to be considered (while most spectators refrained from wearing protective coverings ) Time for the many congratulations and autographs from big and small fans.

Marc Heinrich

sports editor.

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With the 4-0 win over Denmark, the selection of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg had previously achieved a feat that very few other than themselves would have thought possible - and the main actresses of this overture shared their joy extensively with their fans.

It could hardly have started better at the start of a tournament in which the DFB would like to build on old (successful) times and set new records.

The Germans have been European champions eight times to date and since the ninety thrilling minutes in West London it is quite appropriate that the team is once again among the narrower circle of favorites for the final at Wembley on July 31, after having always come a long way in major events fell short of his potential.

Denmark receives 'serious beating'

The two Munich players Lina Magull (21st minute) and Lea Schüller (57th) as well as the Wolfsburg players Lena Lattwein (78th) and Alexandra Popp (86th) scored the goal for the respectable result in the duel with the European Championship runners-up in 2017. .

The Danes, with superstar Pernilla Harder struggling in vain to bring structure to their team's increasingly erratic performance, which was overwhelmed by the flexibility and determination with which the DFB attackers staged their attacks, especially around their own penalty area fortunate that the defeat was not more obvious;

in the early stages, Felicitas Rauch hit the crossbar twice from a distance.

The next day the media in Denmark took a hard swipe at the losers.

The newspaper Ekstra Bladet wrote of "blame points after severe beatings", while "Jyllands-Posten" noted that "superior Germany gave Danish women a football lesson".

When Voss-Tecklenburg gathered the beaming faces of her group around her on the pitch after the final whistle and thanked her for the brilliant premiere with a short speech, she said what her players later said in a similar way: "Someone has to hit us first!"

The 54-year-old, who had to comment on some failures in the past and yet never lost hope, emphasized after hugging almost everyone who crossed her path that for once she had "nothing to complain about".

“We were incredibly dominant, aggressive.

The relief is of course great.

It's a good basis, a great starting position, but nothing has been won yet.” Next up this Tuesday is Spain (9 p.m.), who defeated Finland no less impressively in Milton Keynes late in the afternoon.

"That leaves you wanting more"

“We played ourselves into a frenzy.

Our attack pressing worked very well.

A 4-0 win in the first game is outstanding,” said Schüller.

Tears of joy even ran down Popp's face, as she reported afterwards.

For the 31-year-old, it was a particularly important game in her glorious career: her first European Championship appearance in the 115th international match, after missing the two previous continental football summits with injuries and recently suffering from Corona in the training camp: “I can't believe it.

I'm super happy.

That leaves you wanting more."

On Saturday, the main focus was on regeneration.

"Good food, calm down, gather strength" was the stipulation of the national coaches, who described it as a "gift" to "go onto the pitch with this team".

She saw "great teamwork in all directions," said Voss-Tecklenburg, and that made her optimistic about the rest of the tournament.

"We have the feeling that we can throw in all 23 players at any time and everyone will work," was her quintessence, which she gained from the impressions of the preparation that began at the beginning of June and which - to a lesser extent with five substitutions - was covered by what happened on Friday .

It was nothing less than a blatant challenge to the competition.