On paper this appears to be a one-sided affair. Germany, three times champions, have been steadily improving throughout the tournament and despatched with Portugal in the last eight.

Conversely Turkey have never reached this stage before and go into the game with massive losses to their squad due to injuries and suspensions. However, this tournament has already shown that anything can happen so draw no conclusions on who will progress.

Fatih Terim’s dream of guiding his nation to the Euro 2008 Final is hanging by a thread due to the depletion of his ranks. First choice ‘keeper Volkan Demirel is serving the second part of his two-match ban, he is joined by Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan and Emre Asik on the sidelines for disciplinary reasons. Striker Nihat Kahveci has already gone home after suffering a thigh injury, defender Emre Gungor is also out and midfielder Emre Belozoglu is only 50-50 for the game with defenders Servet Cetin and Tumer Metin also injured.

Such is the depth of the Turkish crisis, Terim has hinted that he may use third choice ‘keeper Tolgan Zengin as an outfield player. “He could come on towards the end as a sub as last man in defence or a centre forward,” explained the former Milan and Fiorentina Coach.

Germany are not without their problems as well as midfielder Torsten Frings has a fractured rib, regardless the Werder Bremen man may still be able to play alongside the inspirational Michael Ballack – who will be hoping to reach the Final and gain the chance to lay to rest his tag as a perennial loser in big games. The Chelsea man has lost two Champions League Final’s and watched from the bench as Germany lost the 2002 World Cup Final to Brazil.

“They will be a difficult adversary who have nothing to lose because reaching the semis is already an achievement,” noted the 31-year-old. “They have shown a strong belief and they’ve scored goals in the closing stages of their matches – it is something that only Germany normally does.”

The game will have special meaning in Germany as there is a large Turkish population in the country – and two Turkish squad members were actually born in Germany, Hamit Altintop and Hakan Balta. “Of course Germany are favourites but there’s no reason why we can’t beat them,” claimed Altintop. “I’m not worried at all, our strength is our collective spirit, I’m sure we can progress to the Final.”

History suggests that the Germans will be more likely to emerge victorious, as they have won 11 out of the 17 previous encounters – but as we all know, prior games have no bearing on the match to be played and the Turks will be buoyant after their late heroics against Switzerland, Czech Republic and Croatia.

Key clash: Rustu Recber v Lukas Podolski
Turkey are down to their bare bones and the suspension of ‘keeper Volkan Demirel means that veteran custodian Rustu Recber will be between the sticks. A semi-finalist in the World Cup of 2002, he has not been the regular first choice though at this tournament and his error against Croatia allowed Luka Modric to set-up Ivan Klasnic for the Balkan nations opener. It will therefore be interesting to see how he copes against Lukas Podolski – who has already put the ball past Artur Boruc and Stipe Pletikosa at Euro 2008.

Italian connection:
There are no Italian based players in the Germany squad, but Turkish midfielder Emre Belozoglu is a former Inter man and Coach Fatih Terim was once in charge of Milan and Fiorentina.

Did you know…
This is Germany’s first European Championship semi-final since they beat England on penalties at Wembley in Euro ’96.

In five previous European Championship semi-final matches the Germans have only lost once – to Holland in 1988.

Turkey and Germany have met before in tournament football on Swiss soil. They played each other twice at the 1954 World Cup with West Germany winning 4-1 in the group stage game and then recording a 7-3 triumph in a play-off to decide who progressed to the next phase.

Over the last three encounters the Turks have the upper hand. The last time they met was in October 2005, with Turkey winning 2-1. Hamit Altintop is the only player from that game who can feature in the semi-final for Turkey while for Germany Per Mertesacker, Marcell Jansen, Torsten Frings, Tim Borowski, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Lukas Podolski, Kevin Kuranyi and Oliver Neuville will all have memories of that defeat in their mind.

The two nations also met in qualifiers for Euro 2000. An Oliver Kahn own goal gave Turkey a win on home soil and the nations drew 0-0 in Munich.

Infact, the Germans last win over Turkey was back in May 1992 when a Rudi Voller goal settled the friendly encounter.

German Coach Joachim Low had a spell in charge of Turkish clubs Fenerbahçe in 1998-99 and Adanaspor in 2000-01.

Michael Ballack has already got one over on some of the Turkish squad. He scored for Chelsea against Fenerbahçe in the Champions League quarter-final. Mehmet Aurelio, Colin Kazim-Richards and Semih Senturk were on the losing side.

The winner of this game will be the designated home side in the Euro 2008 Final.
Germany (probable): Lehmann; Friedrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Lahm; Frings, Rolfes; Scheinsteiger, Ballack, Podolski; Klose

Turkey (probable): Rustu; Balta, Topl, Zan, Sabri; Aurelio; Metin, Altintop, Ayhan, Kazim-Richards; Senturk

Ref: Busacca (Swi)

Ref From channel4.com

Italy are out of Euro 2008 after a penalty shoot-out, Iker Casillas saving from Antonio Di Natale and Daniele De Rossi. Spain go through to face Russia in the semi-final.

The statistics were on the Azzurri’s side, as they were undefeated in competitive matches against Spain since the 1920 Olympics and their last official meeting was a 2-1 win in the 1994 World Cup quarter-final. The Iberians qualified from the group phase with a 100 per cent record, but in all the quarter-finals so far the group winners had gone out.

Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso sat out bans and were replaced by Alberto Aquilani - making his Euro 2008 debut - and Massimo Ambrosini, but the rest of the line-up that defeated France 2-0 remained unchanged. Luis Aragones rested his stars in the 2-1 win over Greece and returned to the same XI that won its opening two games. In a bid to end his goal drought, Luca Toni grew a moustache as a superstitious gesture.

A deflected David Villa effort was easy pickings for Gigi Buffon and Antonio Cassano’s wonderful turn and pass for Simone Perrotta was intercepted at the last second, but Spain were giving away a lot of free kicks and Andres Iniesta was booked after 11 minutes for a late challenge on Fabio Grosso.

Ambrosini did brilliantly to perform a crucial tackle on Fernando Torres in the box. However, moments later Ambrosini was fortunate to get away with a touch on Villa’s calf in the penalty area.

Ambrosini crossed for Perrotta’s fairly weak header straight at Iker Casillas, then the Milan midfielder dispossessed a Spaniard only to pass it too long for Toni.

Buffon smothered a low Villa free kick that whizzed through the defensive wall. Ambrosini was booked for a late tackle on Senna and Buffon got down well to block a hopeful Silva strike from distance.

Italy’s plan was to leave possession to Spain, but they began to take it a bit too far and were pinned back. Xavi Hernandez took advantage of Daniele De Rossi’s slip for a deflected effort off target.

Cassano’s chipped cross found a Toni header charged down by Marchena from six yards on 36 minutes. At the other end Torres had an angled drive slam into Chiellini and as the move continued Silva flashed wide of the far post from outside the box.

A couple of set-pieces caused problems for the Spanish defence and at the other end Villa wanted a free kick inches outside the area, but the referee waved play on. It was a fortunate decision for Italy, as Grosso stamped on Villa’s foot.

Iniesta drilled past the near post after combining with Villa. There was a testy incident on the stroke of half-time, as Perrotta reacted to a sneaky kick from Xavi.

There was a major scare straight after the restart, as a lucky ricochet gave Silva the ball from seven yards, but Chiellini threw himself at the shot to charge it down.

Cassano horribly wasted a golden opportunity on the counter by sliding an imprecise ball past Ambrosini. A splendid Chiellini tackle stopped Torres short at the end of a sprint.

There was another fright as Torres won a battle of strength with Panucci to pass in to Villa, but again Chiellini intercepted with great timing and positioning. The Juventus defender blocked another cross off the head of Torres, confirming his excellent individual performance.

It was a far more open game now with both sides leaving and taking advantage of extra space. With this in mind, Mauro Camoranesi replaced Perrotta to bring more pace to the Azzurri.

Buffon punched away a Xavi curling corner and Silva blasted the follow-up well wide. Spain also made a substitution, Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas and Santi Cazorla coming on for Xavi and Iniesta.

Italy had a fantastic chance on the hour mark as some slack defending and Toni’s physicality saw the ball ping-pong around the six-yard box before Casillas performed a desperate reaction save on Camoranesi with an outstretched left foot.

Aquilani scuffed a volley off target and a Villa free kick clipped the wall to land on the roof of the net. Toni nodded a curling Gianluca Zambrotta cross wide between two defenders.

Villa was rather harshly booked for diving, as he seemed to slip when Chiellini stood his ground and he had to change direction quickly. Torres was angry and had a coming together with Grosso.

Sergio Ramos fired past the near post with a hopeful attempt. Donadoni’s second change saw Antonio Di Natale replace Cassano. A dangerous corner found Buffon crowded out, but got enough to it to send it clear.

Buffon’s first real save of the game was on 80 minutes, as he punched away a Senna free kick from 28 metres. Moments later the goalkeeper fumbled another Senna missile from distance that rolled on to the base of the upright and back into his grateful arms!

Sergio Ramos did enough to put Toni off his header, but a poor Torres first touch accidentally turned into an assist for Villa and Chiellini again stood his ground.

There was a great chance wasted by the Azzurri! Di Natale’s cross was heading for the unmarked Grosso at the back post, but Toni went for it and took the ball off his foot!

Getafe striker Daniel Guiza replaced Torres in a surprise substitution six minutes from time. Spain have had a tendency to score very late goals in all their games in Euro 2008, so they began to pour forward in the hope of sealing this before it went to extra time.

Guiza escaped a booking for a double handling offence that looked more like volleyball than football, though Buffon had saved it anyway. Zambrotta smartly got his body between Villa and the ball, then cleared a dangerous Fabregas cross off Villa’s foot with only Buffon to beat. It was crucial, as this quarter-final went to extra time.

Sergio Ramos tussled with Chiellini as a free kick was floated in, but it looked like a mutual movement. Spain had two chances in the same move, as Chiellini charged down Villa’s effort and the Silva follow-up flashed inches past the upright.

Di Natale flicked a fine ball on for Grosso, whose cross was reaching Toni’s foot before a crucial defensive intervention. From the following throw-in Di Natale got a firm header to Zambrotta’s centre, bringing a fantastic fingertip save out of Casillas.

Italy strung together a series of corners and Toni’s stooping header landed on the roof of the net. Villa slipped, but still managed to get a backheel to Silva from the floor, then Guiza’s angled drive was well wide.

Casillas plucked a Grosso free kick off Chiellini’s head and it was still 0-0 15 minutes into extra time. Sergio Ramos’ high foot kicked Camoranesi in the shoulder for a free kick just outside the box, but Grosso’s effort was off target.

The final substitution saw Alessandro Del Piero replace Aquilani, pushing Camoranesi back into central midfield in a very attacking change with 12 minutes to go before penalties.

Villa sprung the offside trap from Silva in a very close decision, but Buffon followed him and forced a corner with his legs, from which Sergio Ramos nodded wide. Chiellini’s sliding tackle stopped Santi Cazorla from turning in Villa’s through ball and avoided a corner, for which Cazorla was booked for dissent.

There was fair play from Spain, who put the ball out when Di Natale was down injured with a bruised thigh. Marchena charged down a Del Piero strike and on the counter Chiellini and De Rossi needed a double intervention to keep the Spaniards at bay.

A magnificent bit of play from Del Piero left his marker for dead, but the pass to Grosso was intercepted just inside the box. Guiza and Di Natale ballooned hopeful attempts off target, but a good counter from Spain in the final minute saw Santi Cazorla flash an angled drive acros the face of goal. It was the last kick of the game and it went to penalties.

The first up was David Villa, who buried it past Buffon. Grosso smashed a powerful finish to level it, just as he had against France in Berlin. Santi Cazorla rolled it low to send Buffon the wrong way. De Rossi hit it hard, but Casillas guessed the direction and it was saved. Senna lifted a fine right-foot penalty over the goalkeeper. Camoranesi kept Italy in it by firing into the top corner. Guiza stepped up and Buffon levelled the scores with a save on the substitute. Di Natale was next up and his was saved, too, as Casillas got the right angle on a fairly central kick. Fabregas converted the final kick to send Spain through to the semi-finals.

Shoot-out: :

Spain: Villa (goal), Santi Cazorla (goal), Senna (goal), Guiza (saved), Fabregas (goal)

Italy: Grosso (goal), De Rossi (saved), Camoranesi (goal), Di Natale (saved)
Spain: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila; Senna; Iniesta (Cazorla 59), Xavi (Fabregas 59), Silva; Villa, Torres (Guiza 84)

Italy: Buffon; Zambrotta, Panucci, Chiellini, Grosso; Ambrosini, De Rossi, Aquilani (Del Piero 108); Perrotta (Camoranesi 57); Cassano (Di Natale 74), Toni

Ref: Fandel (Ger)

Ref From channel4.com

Turkey have completed another incredible comeback to eliminate Croatia on penalties and set up a semi-final clash with Germany!

Ivan Klasnic thought he had won the game for Croatia 30 seconds from the end of extra time when he headed in Luka Modric’s cross. Semih Senturk had other ideas, however, latching onto a long ball from goalkeeper Recber Rustu to take the game to penalties where Modric, Klasnic and Mladen Petric missed.

A crackling atmosphere welcomed Croatia and Turkey onto a pitch that was bathed in gorgeous sunshine, setting the scene for what one hoped would be a fiery encounter. The match, however, was a slow burner and took a while to ignite with only one chance lighting up the first half.

Croatia, dressed in the blue that they have worn in each of their last three games, looked the more likely to break the deadlock. Turkey showed signs of wilting under the pressure after just three minutes when Sabri miscued a pass yards from his area, which Luka Modric latched onto only to see his effort deflected away by his own player.

Nervy, the Turks continued to infuriate Coach Fatih Terim, performing too casually at the back. Stand-in goalkeeper Recber Rustu was slow to react to a weak Hakan Balta header that Croatia’s left-winger Ivan Rakitic was able to reach and slide across to Dario Srna.

Balta recovered however, kicking the ball out for a corner, which failed to threaten Rustu. Croatia smelt blood though, particularly on the left, and continued to probe accordingly. Not that Turkey were disheartened. Fatih Terim’s side began to settle, gaining confidence through a couple of speculative shots from Hamit Altintop.

As Daniel Pranjic and Rakitic marauded up their flank, they left space for Kazim Richards and Arda Turan to dance around the box, but do little else. In fact, Turkey began to dominate possession, setting up camp in the Croatian half for the first 20 minutes until the Vatreni sparked into life.

Dario Srna picked up a loose ball in the final third, which he played straight to Modric, the Spurs signing, who took two touches that brought him into the box. He then played a delightful ball to Ivica Olic, only for the Hamburg striker to hit the bar from two yards. It was the best chance of the first 45 and heralded the start of a menacing 10 minutes from the Croats.

Modric threaded the ball as if through the eye of a needle to Pranjic and then Olic before the half hour mark, but both of his targets could not make good his assists, making one wonder if the injured Eduardo would have made the difference.

Coach Slaven Bilic huffed and puffed up and down the touchline ruing his side’s inability to convert their chances. That feeling was exasperated minutes after the interval when a long ball from Rakitic caught Arda Turan napping leaving Hakan Balta exposed. Balta once again tried to head it back to Rustu who, having not learned his lesson in the first half, did not come for it, allowing Olic to sneak in a nod the ball over him.

The ball hovered towards the goal line where it found Balta, who again could not deal with it, giving Olic yet another opportunity to score. Olic let the Turks off again, however, placing a low header harmlessly across goal. Alarm bells were ringing though as Niko Kranjcar found space between the two makeshift central defender to get a shot a way, which was fortunately straight at Rustu on 56 minutes.

It was to be Kranjcar’s last attempt as Bilic decided to make a change, throwing on striker Mladen Petric to join Olic in attack. Petric’s entry appeared to refresh Croatia; the Dortmund man took the weight off Olic’s shoulders and began to bring the Vatreni’s talented midfielder into the business end of the pitch.

It was Olic, however, who set up Croatia’s next chance, playing a neat one two with Rakitic only for the precocious 21-year-old to blaze over the bar after 70 minutes. Turkey were under siege and looked about ready to crumble as Rakitic returned the favour Olic granted him seconds earlier, feeding the hard working 38-year-old a deep cross which he headed wide.

Terim began to shuffle his cards with a quarter of the match remaining, hoping for a repeat of the late show that had vanquished the Czech Republic. The former Milan and Fiorentina tactician brought on Semih Senturk, the Fenerbahce forward who scored the Turks’ equalizer against Switzerland earlier in the tournament. He, along with his strike partner Nihat, were ploughing a lonely furrow. The Turks could not drive their opponents out of their own half, conceding corner after corner, which Rustu punched away.

The 35-year-old keeper was clearly growing in confidence, which was to come in handy seven minutes from time when Dario Srna whipped in a wicked free kick from just outside the box. It was heading for the top corner, Bilic and the Croatia bench were ready to celebrate, but Rustu pulled off one of the saves of the tournament, getting a strong hand behind the ball to spirit it away for a corner.

Released down the right on 88 minutes Nihat won a corner that raised expectations of another late Turkish victory. Confident in their own ability, the Croats hopped over the trenches and sent every man forward. Olic nearly got the goal he deserved, getting away from his man to retrieve a cross rifled along the floor from Modric. Finding himself two yards from the net, he could only slide the ball into Rustu’s arms.

As extra time approached Croatia did their best to win the game in 90 minutes. Srna tested Rustu again with another free kick, this time from wide on the right. The Shakhtar Donetsk winger swept the ball in low and watched it bounce in front and off Rustu, who eventually smothered it.

Italian referee Roberto Rosetti blew his whistle and signaled for extra time, giving Turkey another chance to win a game after 90 minutes. And it was Fatih Terim’s side who had the first effort on goal, Middlesbrough’s Tuncay won some freedom on the right of the Croatian box and slashed at the ball from close range, calling Pletikosa into action for the first time in a long while at the near post.

Croatia began to look spent, their legs full of lactic acid. Knowledgeable of that fact Bilic brought Ivan Klasnic on for Olic to rekindle the Vatreni’s attack. The Werder Bremen striker recently recovered from a kidney transplant and scored his first international goal since returning against Poland in Croatia’s final group game.

It was another substitute who nearly settled the tie though. Semih Senturk exchanged a couple of passes of the edge of the Croat box before unleashing an evil looking shot that seared over Pletikosa’s bar, 10 minutes into extra time. Clearly in the ascendancy, Terim’s men gave Pletikosa more to worry about in the opening stages of added time than they did in the preceding 90 minutes.

Tuncay again went close, snatching at a ball that ended up a worrying foot wide of Pletikosa’s right hand post. The Turks were rampant, testing Robert Kovac’s weary defence with a mean cross seconds before Rosetti asked the teams to swap sides and start the last 15 minutes of playing time.

Weary, the Croats rallied to win a free kick from deep in the Turks’ half. Every one of Bilic’s charges went forward but none of them could find the strength to out jump Rustu. Gone was the crisp and energetic passing played by the Croats in the first half, and in came a tired and stumbling imitation, which was overrun by the Turks.

Terim’s side wasted a free kick, which Nihat spooned from the right side to the Croat’s right hand corner flag. Hobbling after the set piece, Nihat was replaced by Gokdeniz in preparation for a penalty shoot out.

That, however, was premature as Modric wreaked havoc on the right, tempting Rustu to come way off his line. Modric turned and crossed the ball finding Klasnic, who did what Olic could not do and headed past the desperate goalkeeper with 30 seconds remaining, sending Bilic euphoric.

His joy was to turn to despair though as another substitute, Semih, took advantage of confusion in the Croat defence, which was struggling to deal with a long ball from Rustu, and forced penalties, rifling the ball into the roof of the net from 10 yards. Bilic could not believe it and ran onto the pitch to ask referee Rosetti why he had not blown for full time.

Rustu’s transformation from hero to villain was complete as he emerged as a penalty shoot out saviour. Modric bravely stepped up to take the first penalty in front of the Turkish end and missed, skewing the ball wide of the post.

Arda Turan replied by scoring the Turks’ first, which Dario Srna cancelled out. That was to be the end of Croatia’s European Championship though as Semih and Hamit Altintop found the net while Rakitic shot wide and Petric’s effort was saved.

Turkey will face Germany in the semi-final on Wednesday, but they will be without Emre Asik, Arda, Tuncay and Volkan, who are all suspended.

Shoot-out:

Croatia: Modric (miss), Srna (goal), Rakitic (miss), Petric (saved)

Turkey: Arda Turan (goal), Semih (goal), Hamit Altintop (goal)
Croatia: Pletikosa; Corluka, R Kovac, Simunic, Pranjic; Srna, N Kovac, Modric, Rakitic; Kranjcar (Petric 65), Olic (Klasnic 97)

Turkey: Rüstu; Hamit Altintop, Gokhan Zan, Emre Asik, Hakan Balta; Sabri, Mehmet Topal (Semih 76), Tuncay, Arda Turan; Kazim-Richards (Ugur Boral 60), Nihat (Gokdeniz 117)

Ref: Rosetti (Ita)

Ref From channel4.com