‘The game was decided by two VAR decisions’ – Denmark angry as Germany book quarter-final slot

Round of 16: Germany 2 [Havertz 53 pen, Musiala 68] Denmark 0

Two Video Assistant Referee decisions at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund on Saturday night have brought further controversy to these European Championships.

Nevertheless, Germany career into a quarter-final in Stuttgart next Friday after a controversial penalty scored by Kai Havertz and a neat finish from Jamal Musiala capped a questionable victory over Denmark.

“The game was decided by two VAR decisions,” said Danish manager Kasper Hjulmand, holding up his iPhone to show the still image that ruled Thomas Delaney’s big toe offside and scratched Joachim Andersen 48th-minute goal. “It was offside by one centimetre. I am so tired of the ridiculous offside rule.”

Not five minutes later, German wing back David Raum’s ball into the box made a feathery contact with Andersen’s arm, which prompted English referee Michael Oliver and VAR to award a penalty.

“We can’t make defenders run with hands behind their back,” Hjulmand continued. “It’s frustrating and not how football should be. Being in front 1-0 would have changed everything.”

Ear-splitting noise inside the Westfalenstadion ceased when Havertz placed the ball on the spot. He stutter-stepped and hesitated before a low strike, to Kasper Schmeichel’s left, nestled in the Danish net.

One-nil Denmark became one-nil Germany and everything had changed.

“I know it’s hard to accept because it’s only two centimetres,” said Julian Nagelsmann, the German coach. “But I think it’s more fair than when you have no VAR. Today I am a friend of VAR.”

VAR decisions are changing the course of football history.

On a night when the game was suspended for 23 minutes due to a thunderstorm, there was also a security breach at half-time when a masked man climbed into the rafters of the stadium, forcing Oliver to inform both captains Ilkay Gündogan and Schmeichel that a security operation was ongoing. At full-time he was arrested at gunpoint.

There were 35 minutes played when lightning struck the upper stanchion of the stadium, forcing players, officials and supporters on the lower deck to scurry for cover.

Danish officials reacted quickest to the threat as they remember how Jonathan Richter had part of his leg amputated after being struck by lightning in 2009. Hjulmand was Richter’s coach at FC Nordsjælland.

The game was halted at 9.36pm with the sides locked at 0-0 as the stadium leaked from a torrential downpour at both ends. At 9.59pm, following a short warm-up, play resumed with Oliver dropping the ball at the feet of Toni Kroos.

Once Kroos has the ball near his big toe, Germany know they can regain a trophy last captured in 1996.

“We showed some play during the break because we wanted to get behind their defence quicker,” said Nagelsmann. “We’re really good, we saw that in the first 20 minutes. We had to put up with a lot of resistance today. We need to be more patient and wait for our moments.”

It was still 10 minutes until half-time and Germany were hammering Schmeichel’s goal. Just as they peppered his father Peter’s – to no avail – in the 1992 European final. To a man, the hosts had been phenomenal, doing everything but breaking the Danes’ defensive resolve.

In first-half injury-time, Denmark almost scored against the run of play when Musiala lost possession. Christian Eriksen got his head up and slipped a pass for Delaney who squeezed the ball into the Germany box to create a straight sprint between Manchester United striker Rasmus Højlund and German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Højlund tried to scoop Neuer but the veteran goalkeeper spread himself wide enough to allow Robert Andrich to clear.

Eventually the damn broke, with Musiala scoring the second goal in the 68th minute, latching on to a long ball to finish in style. On to Stuttgart.