Neuer: Germany made it too easy for Italy

Jun 30, 2012 11:15:00 AM

The goalkeeper admits his side gifted the Azzurri two soft goals, as he struggles to come to terms with die Mannschaft's Euro 2012 elimination at the penultimate hurdle

Manuel Neuer has claimed that Germany made it "too easy" for Italy in their Euro 2012 semi-final defeat on Thursday.

A Mario Balotelli pair in the first half saw the Azzurri eliminate Joachim Low’s men 2-1 in Warsaw, with the Italians now playing Spain in the competition final.

The Bayern Munich goalkeeper admits he and his team-mates are very disappointed with their last-four exit from the tournament, and rues mistakes made against Cesare Prandelli’s side.

"We are all very disappointed,” the ex-Schalke man confessed to TZ.

“There is a certain emptiness in all of us, we cannot believe it. When you reflect on the tournament and compare us with Italy, we played the better football, but unfortunately, not in the first half.

“Accordingly, they are now in the final. I cannot describe what is going on inside me.

"We wanted to close the central areas because we knew that [Andrea] Pirlo, [Daniele] De Rossi and [Ricardo] Montolivo are very good passers.

“I believe that we did not get close enough to the Italians. They had it too easy and you can see that.

“In the situations where we had to be there, we were not there. And so we fell behind," he concluded.

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