England’s historic Euro 2022 win labelled ‘Wembley fraud’ by top-selling German newspaper
Germany's leading tabloid newspaper has branded the Lioness’s historic Euro 2022 victory the "new Wembley fraud".
Bild claimed Germany was the victim of a poor refereeing decision after going down 2-1 to England on Sunday, drawing parallels with the 1966 World Cup final between the two nations, which featured a controversial goal from Geoff Hurst.
Bild wrote: “Germany is crying with our women footballers — and angry about the new Wembley fraud!”
It added: “In the 1-2 defeat after extra time, we were cheated again almost exactly 56 years after the scandal of the Wembley goal.”
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The newspaper claimed Germany should have received a penalty in the first half when England captain Leah Williamson allegedly touched the ball with her arm during a goalmouth scramble.
A subsequent VAR check found no cause for a penalty.
The newspaper compared the incident to Hurst’s goal in the 1966 final, which some claimed did not cross the line after hitting the crossbar.
In 2016, Sky Sports carried out an investigation using technology that it said proved the goal did cross the line.
England went on to win the game against West Germany 4-2 and lift the World Cup.
Read more: Papers react to England win with joy and ‘honorary damehood’ for Sarina Wiegman
Germany women's manager Martina Voss-Tecklenburg told Germany’s ARD TV she could not “fathom” the handball was not given after seeing a replay on a monitor.
ARD sports reporter Claus Lufen added there would be a discussion over the coming days about the handball and this would have “repercussions”.
Bild also quoted a referee expert as saying it was a “clear handball”.
England’s Euro 2022 dream became a reality as Chloe Kelly’s extra-time finish saw the Lionesses beat Germany 2-1 and secure the first major trophy in their history in front of a record-breaking 87,192 crowd at Wembley.
Kelly prodded the ball past Merle Frohms in the 110th minute to restore the tournament hosts’ lead after fellow substitute Ella Toone’s lobbed opener just after the hour mark.
Read more: England Euro 2022 triumph will ‘turbo charge’ women’s game says FA chief
Eight-time champions Germany – who had lost star forward Alexandra Popp to injury in the warm-up – equalised with 11 minutes of normal time remaining through Lina Magull, and the game looked on course for a penalty shoot-out until Kelly’s effort fired Sarina Wiegman’s side to glory.
A year on from the men’s team losing their Euros final at the stadium on penalties to Italy, England celebrated the first piece of major silverware for a senior side since the men’s 1966 World Cup triumph.
The UK papers were unsurprisingly happier than their German counterparts, with the Guardian’s frontpage headline calling the Lionesses “Game changers”, while the i said the country “bursts with pride” at the “valiant” side.
Across its page 4 and 5 spread, the Daily Mail touched on the history-making effort with a headline saying: “In one match they wiped out decades of frustration.”
The Daily Mirror said the win was “something much more” than just a sporting distraction.
