Love beyond the game(MusialaxWirtz)

Did it actually touch his hand?

Some weeks had passed and they had been in the camp for quite some time it was the quarter finals tomorrow and Germany would be playing against Spain. Everyone was truly excited and practiced really hard. Julian Nagelsmann was very proud of his team and how far they have come. He thought that this year would be the year where Germany would win. He hoped it not only for him but also for Toni Kroos,Thomas Müller,Manuel Neuer ,and Ilkay Gürdoğan. It would be their last time playing in the National team for Germany and he knew it would mean the world for them to win. The whole team knew that and showed it the passed weeks in their games.

1 Hour before the game all the players made their way to the stadium. This game was held in Stuttgard. The spirit being at an all time high. It had been fun playing against Spain the other times so it would probably also be this time. It was three of the best youngest footballers in the world playing against each other.

Florian's point of view
I am so excited. My body is arching from excitement. As I enter the field hand in hand with the younger generation I realize that this it it. If we fail this we are out. The game starts good we have most of the ball possession and until half time no one manages to shoot a goal. We are pretty much build up with the same strength. We enter the second half and start weak in that time Spain scores a goal. All German faces looking sad because we only have 2 more minutes left. With one more minute on raider I manage to score a goal for Germany. Seeing the happy faces and emotions is truly wonderful. Then it comes extra time no goals scored here we all think it's going into the shots until merino manages to get one in. But we try harder with Jamal almost being at front until he gets quite literally thrown off his track from Carvajal. He tackles him straight like that and makes him lose the ball the game is over. Germany is out. I can't believe it. I can't help but shed some tears. This is it. I look over to Thomas who is laying in the grass devastated like we all are. No wonders. Jamal is also crying and after some time we all make our way into the changing room.

In the changing room the atmosphere is even more sad because all the player who are leaving are holding their speech and even tho I first played with some of them this Euro together for the first time I still quickly got a good connection and understood why their so valued. The most sad and angry are Thomas and Toni both of them are flaming with anger. Understandably the referee totally ignored some fauls from the Spanish and didn't even give us and 11 meter even tho it clearly touched his hand.

We slowly drove back. On our way back there was nothing, no one said a single word, there was simply nothing left to say. As we arrived I asked Jamal if he wanted to come to my room. I could clearly see the sadness in his eyes and I didn't want him to be alone. We quickly told our good nights and went into my room and got bed ready. As we laid in bed we talked about the game. The fauls the Spanish did and everything in general. We haven't been able to catch up in the past weeks that often so this was Atleast a little good thing that came from this huge loss.  He cried himself out into my arms and before that I had been already sad but that, that made me even more sad. Seeing him in pain and having no control over it. There was nothing I could do to change this Germany was out our time at the Euros 2024 in my home country was done. The dream of winning the Euros and then even in our home country and some of the players home cities was gone. It quite literally evaporated over time. I just wished we would be back at the moment when I shot the goal. All the excitement, all the happiness, all that but sadly that wasn't possible and we would just have to give our self happy with this. Everyone saw that I failed, I lost and it's quite literally eating me up.