The curse is lifted. In eight matches at either the European Championships or World Cup dating back to 1962, Germany had never beaten Italy. The ninth time broke the spell.
The Germans can now stop calling the Italians their "Angstgegner" — "feared opponent."
Here are the things to know about the quarterfinal in Bordeaux:
FOOTBAll CHESS:
This was a game for tactics geeks, not neutrals hoping for end-to-end action.
German coach Joachim loew paid Italy a fine compliment by changing his formation for this match, choosing to fight fire with fire by playing three defenders at the back like his Italy counterpart Antonio Conte.
The German back three of Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng and Benedikt Hoewedes left less space for the Italian attacking pair of Graziano Pelle and Eder to operate. Joshua Kimmich, on the right, and Hector, on the left, played as wing backs in loew's formation, hugging the touchlines, pushing high up the pitch and pulling Italy out wide.
In front of the German back three, central midfielders Sami Khedira and Toni Kroos provided another screen for the Italians to penetrate. Their 135 caps for Germany were more than the combined total of the central midfielders and two wingbacks that Conte fielded in his 3-5-2 formation.
More than anything, the German formation seemed to mess with Italian minds. The enterprising Italy team that comprehensively outplayed 2012 champion Spain in the previous round thought twice about going forward. Instead of prowling down the wings as they had against Spain, Italy wingbacks Mattia De Sciglio and Alessandro Florenzi were far less intrepid and spent a lot more time reinforcing the defense.
GAME OF TWO HAlVES
As the teams took a breather after a goalless first 45 minutes, the boffins atstatistics outfit Opta tweeted that of the 18 goals scored in the two teams' previous encounters at major tournaments, 15 - or 83 percent — came after half-time.Sure enough.
Mezut Ozil's opening goal for Germany followed by leonardo Bonucci's equalizer from the penalty spot stalemated the teams at 1-1, and that was how the score stayed to the end of extra time.
Settling for a shootout against Germany was a big mistake. Since losing its first penalty-kick contest to Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship final, Germany has now won six on the trot at the tournament and the World Cup.
Italy join France, Mexico, England (twice) and Argentina as victims of German efficiency from the spot.