Germany have beaten Portugal 3-2 in the EURO 2008 Quarter Final match, with Portugal being eliminated from the tournament after goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack sealing the win for Germany, despite Gomes & Helder Postiga scoring for Portugal.
The game started off at a fairly high pace, with Portugal having the majority of possession in the opening minutes of the match.
Chelsea new-boy Jose Bosingwa delivered an excellent cross for Joao Moutinho in the 20th minute, but the Portuguese striker somehow thighed his shot over the bar from just 4 yards out.
Germany started to find their feet in the match and took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute, with a strike from Bastian Schweinstieger giving the Germans the lead in their first true attack of the game.
Lukas Podolski was the provider, after making a great run down the left channel, crossing the ball into the penalty area for Schweinsteiger to knock the ball past Ricardo to make it 1-0.
Germany doubled their lead just four minutes later. Miroslav Klose scored his first goal of the tournament after latching on to a Schweinsteiger free-kick, beating the offside trap to head past Ricardo and give Germany a two goal advantage before the half-hour mark.
Portugal pulled a goal back in the 40th minute, with Nuno Gomez scoring off a rebound from Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot which was saved by Lehmann.
Gomes’ shot proved too strong for Christoph Metzelder to stop the ball deflecting into the German goal to make it 2-1 before the break.
Portugal took the game to Germany in the beginning of the second-half, with Lahm and Friedrich seeing bookings early in the second half for Germany.
But despite the Portuguese revival, Germany re-gained their two-goal advantage in the 61st minute with a header from Germany captain Michael Ballack.
Ballack seemed to push Chelsea club team-mate Paulo Ferreira out of the way to find space to head past Ricardo to make it 3-1 from another badly defended set-piece.
Lukas Podolski had a stunning effort on goal in the 78th minute, which flashed just wide of Ricardo’s left-post as Germany looked to run the game out.
Portugal scored a second goal with just three minutes of normal time remaining.
Manchester United midfielder Nani made a superb run down the wing, cut back and crossed to fellow substitute Helder Postiga, who headed past Lehmann to make it 3-2 to Germany.
Germany now face either Croatia or Turkey in the first Semi Final of the tournament.
Full Teamsheets For Portugal v Germany EURO 2008 Quarter Final Match:
Portugal Team: Ricardo, Paulo Ferreira, Jose Bosingwa, Cristiano Ronaldo, Petit (Helder Postiga, 73), Joao Moutinho (Raul Meireles, 31), Simao, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Deco, Nuno Gomes (c) (Nani, 67).
Portugal Substitutes Not Used: Nuno Espirito Santo, Rui Patricio, Hugo Almeida, Jorge Ribeiro, Bruno Alves, Fernando Meira, Miguel Veloso, Miguel, Ricardo Quaresma.
Germany Team: Jens Lehmann, Arne Friedrich, Simon Rolfes, Bastian Scweinsteiger, (Clemens Fritz, 83), Miroslav Klose (Marcell Jansen, 89), Michael Ballack (c), Philipp Lahm, Thomas Hitzlsperger (Tim Borowski, 73), Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski, Christoph Metzelder.
Germany Substitutes Not Used: Robert Enke, René Adler, Heiko Westermann, Torsten Frings, Oliver Neuville, Mario Gomez, Piotr Trochowski, David Odonkor, Kevin Kuranyi.