Leon Goretzka reacts after his late goal in Germany’s 2-2 draw vs. Hungary

Germany made incredibly hard work of it, but thanks to a late goal from Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka, their 2-2 draw was enough to see them finish 2nd in Group F and advance to the knockout stages of Euro 2020.

Elsewhere in the group, France drew 2-2 with Portugal in Budapest, meaning the French topped the group and Portugal finish third. Germany will face England on Tuesday at Wembley Stadium for the round of 16 clash.

It looked as if it was going to be complete dog days once again for Die Mannschaft after going 1-0 down in the 11th minute through Ádám Szalai, but Joachim Low’s side, while they were far from their best, were able to do enough to fight back twice and finish 2-2. It seemed celebrations for Kai Havertz’s goal in the 66th minute weren’t even over yet when András Schäfer capitalized on Manuel Neuer coming off of his line to put Hungary up 2-1 but late heroics from Goretzka, who came on as a sub, sealed the deal for Germany.

Speaking after the draw, Goretzka admitted that, as they had anticipated, Hungary were a difficult side to break down and that it was always going to take a great fight to get a result (Tz). “Today’s game was very, very difficult. There was a lot of resistance that we had to face. But it’s great that we made it in front of a home crowd,” he said.

Conceding the second goal so quickly after Havertz had equalized for Germany was a low point in the match for Low’s side, especially in the nature that Hungary scored it. Straight from the kickoff, there was a long-ball that wasn’t dealt with and Neuer had come off of his line to try and beat Schäfer to the ball, who was being closed down by Leroy Sane and Mats Hummels. The lapse in concentration from Germany could've been far more costly had Goretzka not equalized late on. “What shouldn’t happen is the situation after the 1-1 draw, we weren’t awake enough from the head. You draw even and 15 seconds after that it’s 1:2, that shouldn’t be,” Goretzka vented.

As far as his late goal, Goretzka essentially chalked it up to pure instinct. Jamal Musiala and Timo Werner had some tidy interplay on the edge of Hungary’s box in the buildup, and Werner’s blocked shot fell right to Goretzka’s feet, working it’s way through several Hungarian defenders before hitting the back of Péter Gulácsi’s goal. “Of course I’m over the moon. You could tell that it was getting tight. The ball falls at my feet — and then just put it in,” he said.

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