LYON, France (AP) — Ann-Katrin Berger saved a last-minute penalty and Germany won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics with a 1-0 victory on Friday over Women’s World Cup winner Spain. Berger dove to stop Alexia Putellas’ penalty attempt in the ninth minute of stoppage time, then raised her hands in victory. Putellas — a two-time Ballon d’Or winner — was in tears as the match ended.
Giulia Gwinn had converted a second-half penalty that proved to be the game winner. It was Germany’s fourth bronze medal in women’s soccer at the Olympics. The Germans won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games but didn’t qualify for Tokyo three years ago.
“It was a little tough and slow in the beginning against the Spaniards, but we tried to do everything,” said Germany captain Alexandra Popp, who was also on the gold-medal team. “Maybe it wasn’t the most beautiful soccer that we’ve ever played, but I think we were efficient with our accuracy and our mentality, and luckily this led to the bronze medal.” Spain, ranked No.
1 in the world after the World Cup win, was making its Olympics debut. The Spaniards thought they were headed to extra time after a penalty was awarded when Germany’s Janina Minge fouled Lucia Garcia. But Berger made the difference, as she did in the quarterfinals when she stopped two penalties in a shootout victory over Canada.
Gwinn, who was fouled by Spain goalkeeper Cata Coll, confidently struck her penalty in the 64th minute after a.