Quarter Finals: Germany 2-0 Austria, Sweden 1-0 Belgium And France 1-0 Netherlands

The other three quarter-finals, all decided by fine margins. Germany made it through against Austria despite another immensely spirited display from their neighbours, who hit post, bar and post again, Lina Magull and Alexandra Popp punishing defensive indecision; Irene Fuhrmann was disappointed but proud, and Martina Voss-Tecklenburg used her page to praise Lena Oberdorf’s maturity and joy for playing. Sweden joined them after overwhelming pressure finally told in stoppage time through Linda Sembrant, who describes how hard it is to put into words after a long injury and rehabilitation, while Belgium’s Julie Biesmans admits it hurts to go out in the last thirty seconds of a EURO they were proud of. France ended the Dutch title defence in extra time through an Eve Perisset penalty, Corinne Diacre insisting her team wanted to write their own history.