“It almost never happens”
Kimmich reveals sad EM secret
December 30, 2024 – 12:25 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The European Championship clash against Spain was the most emotional international match of his career for Joshua Kimmich. He couldn’t sleep after the frustration. People talked until the early hours of the morning.
Joshua Kimmich was emotionally affected by the German national team’s dramatic quarter-final exit at the home European Championships. The DFB captain wrote in an article for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that he had no sleep the night after the game against Spain. “As a father of four small children, I miss sleep every night. Not sleeping at all hardly ever happens to me. But this summer it did. The night after the quarter-finals. Against Spain. The most emotional international match I’ve ever played been able to compete so far,” said the 29-year-old.
After an impressive tournament run, the German team only lost in extra time against eventual European champions Spain in July. Marc Cucurella’s controversial handball in particular caused discussion. “Played well, put everything into it and was still eliminated. At home. At the home European Championships. We all had to deal with that first,” Kimmich remembered.
After the bitter defeat, the team sat together for a long time. “Some even until it got light and the first ones came back for breakfast. With a strange mood between maximum disappointment and somehow special,” reported the Bayern Munich midfielder.
For Kimmich, however, the European Championships were more than just a sporting competition. “This last night, with the disappointment of elimination, without sleep, with a lot of conversations and also a lot of silence, helped me to understand that we cannot reduce this tournament to the sporting result,” he explained.
He emphasized that the tournament created a special connection – both within the team and with the fans. “Something has grown together again. Between us as a team and what feels like the whole country. Just like I experienced it as a child. Just as it feels right and as it should be,” wrote Kimmich. Despite the elimination, he looks back positively: “That’s exactly why I remember this summer with a smile.”