Rio 2016: Hrubesch unwilling to blame Petersen

Germany coach Horst Hrubesch refused to blame Nils Petersen for his missed penalty in their loss to Brazil at the Rio Olympics.

Neymar was the hero for the hosts, who claimed their first Olympic football gold medal with a 5-4 shoot-out victory after a thrilling 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Only Petersen failed to convert his penalty, the striker denied by goalkeeper Weverton to give Neymar the chance to win it and the Barcelona star duly obliged to spark jubilant celebrations in the stands.

“What can you tell him? I told him, ‘don’t worry, that’s life’,” the outgoing Hrubesch told a news conference.

“He took the responsibility of taking the kick and with a penalty it’s a 50-50 chance so no complaints whatsoever.”

Germany fell behind to a tremendous Neymar free-kick before Max Meyer equalised just before the hour-mark.

And Hrubesch said his team gave a good showing of themselves at the Maracana.

“I knew Brazil would not destroy us, but we could not destroy them and it was a very tough match,” he said.

“It is okay to lose on penalties after 120 minutes so congratulations to the Brazil team.”

Hrubesch added: “Over 120 minutes it was a very intense match which both teams could have won. But I am happy that football has won.

“We have given a good account of German football and I think we will take Olympic football very seriously in future.”