Germany–Italy football rivalry

This game was the first match ever played in a World Cup between Germany and Italy, and saw few scoring chances for both sides. In the first half Uwe Seeler hit the bar, Albert Brülls and Omar Sívori also had their chances. In the second half the game became more physical and sometimes brutal but in the end defences overcame attacks and no goals were scored.[10]

31 May 1962

15:00 CLT

West Germany	0–0	Italy
	Report

Estadio Nacional, Santiago

Attendance: 65,440

Referee: Robert Holley Davidson (Scotland)

Italy led for the majority of the semi-final match, after Roberto Boninsegna scored in the 8th minute. Germany's Franz Beckenbauer dislocated his shoulder[11] after being fouled, but stayed on the field carrying his dislocated arm in a sling, as his side had already used their two permitted substitutions.

Defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger equalized for West Germany during injury time at the end of the second half. German television commentator Ernst Huberty exclaimed "Schnellinger, of all people!", since Schnellinger played in Italy's professional football league, Serie A, at A.C. Milan (for whom he rarely scored) and previously for A.S. Roma and A.C. Mantova. It was also his first and only goal in 47 matches for the national team. The second half ended with the scores deadlocked at 1–1, and at this point the match became a battle of endurance during the two periods of extra time.

Gerd Müller put Germany ahead in the 94th minute, but Tarcisio Burgnich tied it back up four minutes later and Luigi Riva put the Italians back in front. Gerd Müller scored again for West Germany to tie up the score at 3–3. Yet, as television cameras were still replaying Müller's goal, Italy's Gianni Rivera scored the game-winning goal in the 111th minute. Being left unmarked near the penalty area, Rivera connected a fine cross made by Boninsegna, clinching the victory for Italy at 4–3.[12]

17 June 1970

16:00 CST

Italy	4–3 (a.e.t.)	West Germany
Boninsegna  8' Burgnich  98' Riva  104' Rivera  111'	Report	Schnellinger  90' Müller  94', 110'

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 102,444

Referee: Arturo Yamasaki Maldonado (Mexico)

This match was played in the first matchday of Group A of the 1978 FIFA World Cup, a round robin played between the winners and the runners-up of the groups of the first phase; the game ended in a scoreless draw. At the end of the second phase Italy managed to reach the third place play-off against Brazil, while Germany were eliminated as third in the group.

14 June 1978

13:45 ART

Italy	0–0	West Germany
	Report

Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 67,547

Referee: Dušan Maksimović (Yugoslavia)

On 11 July, after a scoreless first half during which Antonio Cabrini fired a penalty low and wide to the right of goal, Paolo Rossi scored first, heading home a bouncing Claudio Gentile cross from the right from close range. Marco Tardelli then scored from the edge of the area with a low left footed shot before Alessandro Altobelli, at the end of a counterattack by winger Bruno Conti, made it 3–0 with another low left footed shot. Paul Breitner scored for Germany in the 83rd minute, firing low past the goalkeeper from the right, but Italy held on to claim their first World Cup title in 44 years, and their third in total with a 3–1 victory.[13]

11 July 1982

20:00 CEST

Italy	3–1	West Germany
Rossi  57' Tardelli  69' Altobelli  81'	Report	Breitner  83'

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

Attendance: 90,000

Referee: Arnaldo Cézar Coelho (Brazil)

Both the sides faced-off in the opening match of Euro 1988 in group stage held in West Germany. The first half ended without any goals. Within 10 minutes of the second half Roberto Mancini gave the Italian side the lead by scoring at the 52nd minute, however the lead was short lived as Andreas Brehme scored the equalizer for West Germany at the 55th minute. The game ended in a draw with one goal for each side.[14]

10 June 1988 (1988-06-10)

20:15 CEST

West Germany	1–1	Italy
Brehme  55'	Report	Mancini  52'

Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf

Attendance: 62,552

Referee: Keith Hackett (England)

The two teams were matched up in the final game of the group stage of UEFA Euro 1996. Germany was already guaranteed progress to the next stage unless Italy and Czech Republic both won their matches while Italy was faced with a must-win situation if the Czech Republic did not lose to Russia. Gianfranco Zola had a penalty saved by Andreas Köpke in the 9th minute and Thomas Strunz was sent off in the 59th minute. Despite the man advantage and the lion's share of possession, Italy failed to score due to the heroic display of Köpke. The goalless draw resulted in Italy being eliminated from the tournament as the Cezch Republic drew with Russia[15]

19 June 1996 (1996-06-19)

19:30 BST

Italy	0–0	Germany
	Report

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 53,740

Referee: Guy Goethals (Belgium)

This was the semi-final match played in Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, in front of a crowd of 65,000 on 4 July 2006. Until then, the Westfalenstadion had been a fortress-like stadium for the German national team, as Germany had never lost there in 14 matches. During an eventful match, this record was broken when two late goals in the closing half of extra-time scored by Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero saw Italy advance to the final. Italy went on to win the World Cup for a fourth time.

German midfielder Torsten Frings was suspended for this semi-final match against Italy after footage was released by the media of him throwing a punch at Argentinian player Julio Cruz in Germany's quarter-final match up with Argentina after a brawl broke out; his suspension for the semi-final was announced by FIFA one day before the semi-final match was to be played.[16]

4 July 2006

21:00 CEST

Germany	0–2 (a.e.t.)	Italy
	Report	Grosso  119' Del Piero  120+1'

FIFA WM Stadion Dortmund, Dortmund

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)

Italy met Germany again in the semi-final match of Euro 2012 in the evening of 28 June 2012 at National Stadium in Warsaw. Prior to this match, Germany had set a world football record with 15 consecutive wins in competitive matches, which included all matches of Euro 2012 up to that point and the qualifiers. However, also this record was to be broken by Italy on that day.

In the 20th minute, Italian striker Mario Balotelli scored the first goal for Italy, in the left corner of the net, heading past German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer after receiving a cross from Antonio Cassano, then in the 36th minute, Balotelli scored again for Italy, this time blasted into the top right corner on a one-on-one with Neuer, assisted by a Riccardo Montolivo lob over the German defence, giving them a two-goal lead. In the second half, the Germans attacked, trying to even the score. Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made several impressive saves to many German shots. Two minutes into added time, Italian defender Federico Balzaretti committed a handball inside the penalty box. The resulting penalty was successfully converted by the German midfielder Mesut Özil.

Thus, the final score was 2–1 to Italy, who went on to the finals against defending champions Spain. As in their previous encounter in the 2006 World Cup semifinal match, Andrea Pirlo was again elected the man of the match.

28 June 2012 (2012-06-28)

20:45 CEST

Germany	1–2	Italy
Özil  90+2' (pen.)	Report	Balotelli  20', 36'

National Stadium, Warsaw

Attendance: 55,540[17]

Referee: Stéphane Lannoy (France)

On 2 July 2016, Germany and Italy met at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux in Bordeaux during the quarter-finals of the UEFA Euro 2016 where the match ended in a 1–1 draw after extra time, with Germany advancing 6–5 after a penalty shoot-out—statistically still a draw, it was the first time ever Germany had overcame Italy in a competitive match.[18][7]

Mesut Özil scored in the 65th minute to give Germany the lead. In the 78th minute Leonardo Bonucci scored from the penalty spot after Jérôme Boateng was fouled for a handball in the box. After a goalless extra time period, with the two sides still locked at one goal each, a penalty shoot-out resulted 6–5 in favour of Germany.

Manuel Neuer (Germany) and Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), the goalkeeper-captains of their respective teams for the quarter-final (although Neuer handed the skipper's armband when Bastian Schweinsteiger was substituted in), were the last goalkeepers who had not conceded a goal in the tournament until this match. They received praise for their performances in the quarter final.[19]

2 July 2016 (2016-07-02)

21:00 CEST

Germany	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Italy
Özil  65'	Report	Bonucci  78' (pen.)
Penalties
Kroos Müller Özil Draxler Schweinsteiger Hummels Kimmich Boateng Hector	6–5	Insigne Zaza Barzagli Pellè Bonucci Giaccherini Parolo De Sciglio Darmian

Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux

Attendance: 38,764[20]

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

Note: *Germany overcame Italy in a Euro 2016 quarter-final match via penalty shoot-out.