DFB striker after France-Sieg
“I woke up of the pain in my body”
Updated on July 21, 2025 – 3:17 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The German women are in the European Championship quarter-finals after a memorable victory against France. The triumph continued the following day – not just at an emotional level.
This game not only cost a lot of nerves, but also a lot of strength. For the German national women’s team, the journey continues at the European Championship in Switzerland-with the semi-finals against top favorite Spain on Wednesday (9 p.m.). Thanks to the 6: 5 in the penalty shootout against the favored French women, the team of national coach Christian Wück can continue to dream of the title. Against France, the DFB team defied a red card, a total of 107-minute outnumbered and a fired penalty in the regular season.
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Not only because of the dramatic course of the game was a very special game for Giovanna Hoffmann. The attacker of RB Leipzig was at the starting eleven for the first time at a big tournament. Wück gave her the preference in front of Lea Schüller.
The 26-year-old Hoffmann confessed afterwards: “To run in and then play the first ball-I really had goose bumps. I was in waves again and again during the day. Then I was totally calm again in between because I was completely, quite sure that we were winning the game, no matter how. That’s why I was not brought out of the concept in the game, with everything that happened there.”
She convinced with a fighting spirit, ran, secured important balls at the front and relentlessly threw herself into the duels. After 97 minutes, she had been completely drained. Schüller came into the game for her.
How much strength she had cost the performance revealed Hoffmann the day after: “I woke up at 8 a.m. in my body and could not sleep. Then I went to the boots for half an hour (rainwear for the leg muscles, i.e. editor) and still drove. Then I was hungry and had breakfast.”
It is quite possible that Wück against world champion Spain, despite the exhausting performance against France, rely on Hoffmann in the storm tip again – provided that she will not continue to be torn from her pain during the coming nights. In addition to Franziska Kett and Rebecca Knaak, she only completed individual training on Monday.