It was an evening of football that left painful marks.

When Martina Voss-Tecklenburg had fulfilled the last point on her list of duties after the semifinals of the European Football Championship with the press conference, she stood up.

"Everything hurts me," said the national coach when she left the podium in the Milton Keynes stadium after the emotional 2-1 victory of the German women over France.

It wasn't just their players who gave their all on the pitch to fulfill their dream of a final against England in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday (6:00 p.m. CEST in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship, on ARD and DAZN). .

Tobias Rabe

Responsible editor for Sport Online.

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The 54-year-old national coach also went along on her small lawn on the sidelines for a total of 97 minutes.

When the work was done and the Germans secured their fifth win in five games at this tournament, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg's path led to Merle Frohms.

She had to concede her first EM goal – and what a goal.

A hard shot from the post by Kadidiatou Diani bounced off the goalkeeper's back and into the net.

Officially, that was even counted as an own goal (44th minute).

In the end, Frohms "didn't care" about the victory.

Bühl return to the final possible

Frohms later showed her class as she made a brilliant save and proved that the extremely unfortunate situation hadn't thrown her off course.

"She has played a very good tournament so far," said the national coach about her number one.

“But I hugged everyone else too.

Merle was just the first today.

The clean sheet victories over Denmark, Spain, Finland in the preliminary round and Austria in the quarterfinals was followed by passing the matriculation test against filigree French women.

The fact that the German depth in the squad can be a joker on the way to Wembley had already been indicated in a tournament in which an unpredictable opponent was playing.

Before the semifinals, the strong striker Klara Bühl had tested positive for the corona virus.

The only 19-year-old Jule Brand replaced her without any loss of quality.

Who starts on Sunday remains uncertain.

Bühl's return is not excluded.

"She doesn't have any symptoms.

And if it's negative, then it's an issue for us.

We look at it from day to day,” said Voss-Tecklenburg.

If there are no symptoms, EM players can test themselves free after five days.

After the opening win, the virus took Lea Schüller out of the game.

Alexandra Popp, who in turn had to pause in preparation due to an infection, took over the place in the center of the storm and did not give it up with six goals in five appearances.

The captain is now seeded for the final.

"I can't even put it into words," she said.

It's a late-breaking reward in a career where injuries have stalled her big moments time and time again.

So she is playing her first European Championship in England these days – at the age of 31.

Popp not only experienced different times, but also different roles.

Even when she was fit, she wasn't always allowed to play in her central striker position.

Their physical strength was sometimes in demand in much more defensive positions.

Before this tournament, however, the national coach announced that she was planning to attack in England.

"I was very, very happy," said Popp.

That was also what all the Germans said about their hits.

They followed the same pattern and were indefensible for France.

In each case, Popp came powerfully from behind in the penalty area and sunk the ball into the ball, first with a foot volley (40') and then decisively with a header (76').