Ruediger wearing his heart on his sleeve as Germany march on

Germany defender Antonio Ruediger celebrated a late block in his side's 2-0 Euro 2024 last-16 win over Denmark on Saturday as if he had scored the winner, and his team mates celebrated with him, a sign of the strong collective bond in the German camp.

Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala got the goals and the VAR grabbed the headlines, but it was Germany's irresistible performance that got them over the line and into a quarter-final against either Spain or Georgia.

"It's about results, our display, we wanted to take our fans with us," Ruediger told reporters.

"We did it from the first minute - you can see as a team, everybody respects his job, I think this is the most important thing, and everyone fights for each other. For us, it's important to do it as a team and not an individual," he added.

Though they were overrun by the Germans in the first half, the Danes had the ball in the back of the net in the second, but that goal was ruled out by the VAR due to a very marginal offside, and minutes later the Germans were awarded a penalty after an intervention by the video referee.

The Danes were not happy with the officiating, but Ruediger and his side defended their lead bravely, including his last-ditch block.

"Everyone who knows football and knows me knows I am an emotional person on the pitch, and I think it was an important block, so I felt it was almost like a goal, so that's why I celebrated it," he explained.

"For me this is important as a defender to keep a clean sheet, we scored two more goals than Denmark and I'm really happy with that."

The Germans will play their quarter-final in Stuttgart on Friday. REUTERS