Secret formula of Germany for penalty success revealed

Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger has revealed the secrets of his nation's penalty success after they beat Italy in a shoot-out to book their place in the Euro 2016 semi-finals.

The world champions take on home nation France in Thursday's semi-final, but they only made it through to the last-four thanks to the penalty-saving exploits of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Although Germany are extremely reliable from the spot usually, they missed three times in the shoot-out, with Schweinsteiger himself missing the opportunity to seal victory.

After Neuer saved from Italy full-back Matteo Darmian, Germany left-back Jonas Hector stepped up to squeeze a low shot just underneath the body of the veteran Italy stopper Gianluigi Buffon to win the penalty shoot-out and send his team through.

Schweinsteiger has now given an insight into his thought process when penalties take place.

Swap ends

Most fans would prefer to have their team take penalties at their end of the pitch, but Germany elected to have the shoot-out in front of the Italian fans.

Schweinsteiger explained that he took into account the previous penalty shoot-outs he has been involved with when making the decision.

"I thought back how previous penalty shoot-outs went," the Germany captain said. 

"I remembered the shoot-out in Munich [Bayern's Champions League final defeat to Chelsea in 2012], when we did it at our stand.

"Then I remembered the shoot-out in Madrid [when Bayern won on penalties in the Champions League semi-finals, where we did it in front of the Madrid stand."

Schweinsteiger also pointed out that Poland won on penalties against Switzerland with the shoot-out taking place at the Swiss end of the stadium.

"So I thought, let's shoot at the Italian side, and give the Italian fans something to be happy about," Schweinsteiger said.

Despite the captain missing his own kick, the decision turned out to be justified as Germany won the shoot-out 6-5.

Muller steps down

While Schweinsteiger is full of confidence about his penalty technique, one man who is less sure from 12 yards is Thomas Muller.

The versatile attacker is usually one of Germany's most prolific players, but he has had a poor tournament and is yet to score.

In fact, the European Championship seems to have a hoodoo over Muller, who has never scored in the competition.

"I will not be taking any penalties for the next two weeks," Muller told Sport Bild .

"I will work on my technique at penalties for a bit and I will be back stronger in one or two months or so. I will take a step back and let others do the business for now."

However, Muller said that if he is needed in a penalty shoot-out, he will step up and take one for his team despite missing against Italy.

"If a match goes to penalties again and we need someone, I will be available," he said. "But I will not be asking to take one myself."

It seems as though the responsibility might well fall on to the shoulders of Schweinsteiger.