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Germany booked their place in the Euro 2012 semi-finals by beating Greece 4-2 in a commanding performance on Friday night.

Joachim Low made three high-profile changes to his starting XI, with Lukas Podolski, Mario Gomez and Thomas Muller surprisingly having to watch the game from the bench; Marco Reus, Andre Schurrle and Miroslave Klose deputised. Joachim Low’s men got off to a good start, controlling possession as the Greeks sat deep and looked to soak up pressure. It appeared to be only a matter of time before the favourites took the lead, but their opponents frustrated with a number of last-ditch tackles and dogged defending.

Klose thought he had opened the scoring when he converted an early chance, but the linesman adjudged the Lazio striker to be offside and the goal was disallowed. Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira also had shots on goal, but the Greeks defied the odds and looked to get into the break at 0-0.

However, Germany finally made their dominance count on 39 minutes, as Phillipp Lahm struck from the edge of the box with a curling effort to give the Germans the lead. A 1-0 half-time lead was much deserved, but Fernando Santos must have given his team a talking to at the break, as they were back level just moments into the second 45. Targetman Georgos Samaras ghosted in at the back post to capitalise on poor marking, and fire home past Manuel Neuer to get the Greeks back on parity.

Rumblings of an upset were put to bed soon after though, as Germany scored three goals in the space of 13 minutes to win the contest. Firstly Khedira broke forward to latch onto a Jerome Boateng ball and volley home to put the Germans back in the lead; Greece had only been level for six minutes. Klose ended the game as a contest soon after, as the veteran headed home on his 120th appearance for his nation. Finally, a Marco Reus volley cannoned into the back of the net off the crossbar to put a shine on an impressive performance.

Dimitris Salpigidis did get a consolation for the Greeks from the penalty spot after Boateng was adjudged to have handled in his area, but the Germans were good value for their win and looked like a side destined for the competition final. In truth they could have scored more than the four goals they did get, and Low’s decision to bring in a number of fringe players shows the competition for place and strength in depth of the squad.

Germany will now take on either Italy or England in the next round, as they look to win their first international trophy since 1996.

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Euro 2012 Germany Greece