Euro'08 Portugal 2:3 Germany TRANSLATION REPORT

Germany endured a tense finale in Basel but eventually came out as winners of the first quarter-final of Euro 2008, beating tournament high-flyers Portugal 3-2 in Basel with goals from Schweinsteiger, Klose and Ballack.

Euro'08 Portugal 2:3 Germany TRANSLATION REPORT

Two early goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose laid the foundations for the victory and although Nuno Gomes pulled one back for Portugal, captain Michael Ballack's header on 61 minutes restored Germany's two-goal cushion. Substitute Helder Postiga reduced the deficit once more on 87 minutes but Germany held on.



Germany, who beat Portugal by 3-1 in the third-place playoff at the 2006 World Cup, now meet either Croatia or Turkey on June 25 for a place in the final.



Joachim Loew's side started the stronger on a relaid pitch at St Jakob Park, with Thomas Hitzlsperger twice trying his luck from distance before Portugal slowly started to find their feet.



First Cristiano Ronaldo almost broke clear in the area before Joao Moutinho steered a Bosingwa cross from the right just over Lehmann's goal.



Rapid double rocks Portugal



But just as Portugal appeared to be getting on top, Germany scored twice in the space of four minutes to stun Luiz Felipe Scolari's side.



Schweinsteiger slid home the first on 22 minutes, meeting a Lukas Podolski cross from the left at the near post after his Bayern Munich team-mate had played a swift 1-2 with Michael Ballack.



Schweinsteiger - unrecognizable from the player sent off against Croatia for pushing an opponent - turned provider on 26 minutes, floating in a free-kick which Miroslav Klose headed past Ricardo to make it 2-0.



Despite the two-goal deficit, Portuguese heads didn't drop and Per Mertesacker had to be alert to cut out a dangerous Ronaldo cross after 33 minutes while Raul Meireles, who came on for the injured Joao Moutinho, blasted over when the Porto midfielder should have done better.



Gomes follows up to drag Portugal back into game



Portugal's renewed dominance eventually paid dividends five minutes before the break when Lehmann could only parry a goal-bound Ronaldo shot into the path of Nuno Gomes, whose low shot found the bottom-right-hand corner via Mertesacker's outstretched right boot.



Bildunterschrift: Gro©¬ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Ballack had a good game and capped it with a goal



The second half began as the first one ended, albeit in heavy rain, with Portugal in total control and Germany apparently happy to play the risky game of sitting back and soak up the pressure.



But despite all their pressure, a Pepe header from close range, which sailed over, was the closest Portugal came to leveling the match.



Captian Ballack restores two-goal lead



Ballack made the Portuguese pay for their lack of a cutting edge up front just after the hour mark, heading home another Schweinsteiger free kick to make it 3-1.



The goal outraged Scolari in the technical area as the Brazilian complained that the Chelsea star clearly appeared to push his club team-mate Paolo Ferreira before scoring.



Scolari brought on Nani for Gomes and Helder Postiga for Petit in an effort to turn things around and it was Nani who floated in a perfect cross for the unmarked Postiga to make it 3-2 with just three minutes remaining. But it was too little too late for Portugal.



Teams:



Portugal: 1-Ricardo, 4-Jose Bosingwa, 15-Pepe, 16-Ricardo Carvalho, 2-Paulo Ferreira, 10-Joao Moutinho, 8-Armando Petit, 20-Deco; 7-Cristiano Ronaldo, 21-Nuno Gomes, 11-Simao Sabrosa



Germany: 1-Jens Lehmann, 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 21-Christoph Metzelder, 16-Philipp Lahm, 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger, 6-Simon Rolfes, 13-Michael Ballack, 15-Thomas Hitzlsperger, 11-Miroslav Klose, 20-Lukas Podolski



Referee: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden)



Germany vs Portugal: could the history be so important?



Cristiano Ronaldo and his partners are part of one of the best teams at EURO 2008. The Mannschaft is not playing very well and beat Austria only 1-0 to reach quarterfinals. But the stats say that Germany and Portugal have played 15 matches. Germany won seven games, while Portugal only won three. They drew five times.



Here we have all the official matches:



World Cup 08.07.2006 Stuttgart: Germany - Portugal 3:1

Euro 20.06.2000 Rotterdam: Portugal - Germany 3:0

WC Q 06.09.1997 Berlin: Germany - Portugal 1:1

WC Q 14.12.1996 Lisbon: Portugal - Germany 0:0

21.02.1996 Porto: Portugal - Germany 1:2

29.08.1990 Lisbon: Portugal - Germany 1:1

WC Q 16.10.1985 Stuttgart: Germany - Portugal 0:1

WC Q 24.02.1985 Lisbon: Portugal - Germany 1:2

Euro 14.06.1984 Strassburgo Germany - Portugal 0:0

23.02.1983 Lisbon Portugal - Germany 1:0

17.02.1982 Hannover Germany - Portugal 3:1

27.04.1960 Ludwigshafen Germany - Portugal 2:1

19.12.1954 Lisbon Portugal - Germany 0:3

24.04.1938 Frankfurt Germany - Portugal 1:1

27.02.1936 Lisbon Portugal - Germany 1:3



Germany booked their place in the semi-finals of Euro 2008 by seeing off a below-par Portugal side.



Bastian Schweinsteiger sidefooted in the first and created the second with a free-kick for Miroslav Klose.



Nuno Gomes finished from close range to give Portugal hope but they failed to defend another Schweinsteiger free-kick and Michael Ballack headed their third.



Portugal substitute Helder Postiga pulled one back in the dying stages but there was to be no grandstand finish.



TRANSLATION



The referee blows the final whistle!

PORTUGAL - GERMANY 2:3!



90'Nani shoots from far distance! Very high!

90'Portugal attacks!

89'Last minutes! Very interesting!

87'GO-O-O-A-A-AL!

2:3! Postiga!

Postiga makes direct header kick after cross from the left!

85'Deco moves ball into penalty area to Postiga, the last one hits Lehmann.

84'Fast attack and Fritz misses from narrow angle.

83'Germany make a substitution: Fritz comes on for Schweinsteiger.

82'Ronaldo fires but it is blocked again! Corner.

81'Fast combination ends with inaccurate kick from Portuguese.

80'Podolski shoots from a narrow angle, corner.

79'Podolski takes a corner and shoots from 35 meters in few seconds. Ball flies near far post!

78'Deco hits a right footed shot from the boundary of penalty area but it goes direct to keeper.

77'Lehmann parries high cross and start a counter-attack, nobody can continue it.

76'Rain is much stronger minute after minute.

75'Portugal bombard at the goal but it is not effective at all.

74'Nani fires too high from medium distance.

73'Portugal make a substitution: Postiga comes on for Petit.

72'Germany make a substitution: Borowski comes on for Hitzlsperger.

71'Deco makes diagonal pass to Nani but the last makes inaccurate cross.

70'Petit hits a right footed shot from 30 meters but Lehmann parries!

69'Lahm gets past opposing defence and shoots from boundary of the penalty area but misses.

68'Nani dribbles and losses the ball, he could make dangerous pass but...

67'Ronaldo hits a right footed shot to the upper left corner from but misses.

66'Portugal make a substitution: Nani comes on for Nuno Gomes, Ronaldo is a captain.

65'Portuguese try to change something.

64'Meireles hits a right footed shot from 25 meters but it is blocked.

62'GO-O-O-A-A-AL!

1:3! Ballack!

Far cross from the standard and Ballack is faster than Ferreira and Ricardo and makes header shot from 10 meters!

62'Klose requires medical treatment after this collision.

61'Pepe commits a foul on Klose and is booked for this foul.

60'Corner kick #7 is done by Portuguese, opponents are accurate this moment.

59'Powerful Ronaldo's shot from medium distance is blocked.

58'Ballack dribbles towards the penalty area but losses the ball in fight with 4 defenders.

57'Corner from the left and Pepe misses a header kick from 3 meters!

56'Ronaldo makes a dangerous cross from the left and Lehmann parries it on time.

54'Bosingwa makes one more long pass, no partners on far post.

53'Ronaldo makes header kick too far from goal after cross from right wing.

52'Deco inaccurately passes in the gap and in few seconds is caught offside.

51'Hitzlsperger gets pass from right wing and shots off target from 25 meters.

50'Lahm is booked for foul on Simao, counter-attack is stopped, this is the reason of yellow card.

49'One more far shot. Petit sends the ball off target.

48'Friedrich foul on Ronaldo, stopping the best world player and is cautioned for this.

47'Meireles fires low to the left from medium distance.

46'The second half begins. No changes to report at the break.



The first half ends!

PORTUGAL - GERMANY 1:2 after first 45 minutes!



45'Ronaldo hits a left footed shot from the left penalty area to far corner but it goes in near post!

45'One minute is compensated.

45'Ballack hits a right footed shot from the left penalty area to near corner but it goes off target.

44'Ronaldo's counter-attack on the right wing is stopped, but referee thinks that all is correct there.

43'Germany have the initiative, attacks all this time after goal.

42'Fast temp, open play, hope, fans are happy.

40'GO-O-O-A-A-AL!

1:2! Gomes!

Simao makes a super pass to the left, Ronaldo's shot is parried but Nuno Gomes is in direct time in direct place!

38'Ballack requires medical treatment after short fight with Pepe. Think, all will be all right with Deutsch captain.

37'Positional attack ends by far shot from Meireles, the ball goes off target.

36'Nice corner kick from the left and Lehmann finally catches the ball.

35'Klose is caught offside after fast attack, Germans are very dangerous in this component.

34'Portuguese run into the open space very often but this squad has problems with correct passes.

33'Fast counter-attack from Low players, bit the last pass have been inaccurate, offside!

32'Few one touch passes between Simao and Ronaldo but only corner kick will be done.

31'Scolari is too unhappy by surprised 30 minutes.

30'Portugal make a substitution: Meireles comes on for Moutinho (tactical).

29'Germans are on their side, all 11. Their opponents try to do something dangerous.

28'Simao sends a low cross from corner, but nobody shots.

26'The ball hits Hitzlsperger face but all is OK with German player.

26'GO-O-O-A-A-AL!

0:2! Klose!

Schweinsteiger crosses from 35 meters and Klose without any problems makes header kick from 8 meters to the right corner of goal!

25'Metzelder makes fast break and Petit is booked for foul.

24'Portuguese has no injury, we continue!

23'Moutinho requires medical treatment, we have a little pause.

21'GO-O-O-A-A-AL!

0:1! Schweinsteiger!

Fast counter-attack with one touch passes on the left wing, Podolski makes a cross to the center of penalty area and Schweinsteiger shots to the left corner!

20'Moutinho hits a right ankle shot from 5 meters but it goes off target.

19'Friedrich saves after Ronaldo break in the penalty area. Corner for Portugal.

18'Ballack makes a header kick from the centre of penalty area but upper.

17'Friedrich and Schweinsteiger are very active on the right, the last one executes a corner kick.

16'Low temp these minutes, fans are not glad of this.

15'Simao hits a right footed shot from the right penalty area but it is parried by Lehmann! Dangerous!

14'Simao passes in the gap but Gomes do not understand it.

13'Ballack starts counter-attack makes break on the left wing and is blocked. No foul, referee decides.

12'Petit foul near own penalty area on Metzelder. Referee decides that all is correct.

11'Bosingwa crosses from the right wing and out for Portugal on the opposite.

10'Hitzlsperger shots and then makes cross, all this things are not good.

9'Germany use pressing and it is very effective on the start.

8'Petit fouls on Ballack in 30 metres from Ricardo goal.

7'Nice header pass to Gomes but Lemann is faster and catches the ball.

6'Germany have initiative, their opponents are not so active.

5'Dangerous shot from Ronaldo to the near corner, but Lemann parries!

4'Referee is angry after rough play from Podolski.

3'Ricardo plays off his penalty area. It is good decision after bad back pas from his defender.

2'Lahm loses a ball on the left wing and fouls to prevent counter-attack.

1'Germany kick off, and they will attack from right to left in the first half!

-The anthems are out of the way, and we are ready to start!

-Both teams are on the field.

-Players are going from dressing rooms.

-Portugal squad:



1 Ricardo

2 Paulo Ferreira

4 Bosingwa

7 Cristiano Ronaldo

8 Petit

10 Jo¬Фo Moutinho

11 Sim¬Фo

15 Pepe

16 Ricardo Carvalho

20 Deco

21 Nuno Gomes



Substitutes:



3 Bruno Alves

5 Fernando Meira

6 Raul Meireles

9 Hugo Almeida

12 Nuno Esp¬Яrito Santo

13 Miguel

14 Jorge Ribeiro

17 Ricardo Quaresma

18 Miguel Veloso

19 Nani

22 Rui Patr¬Яcio

23 H¬Ыlder Postiga

Germany squad:



1 Jens Lehmann

3 Arne Friedrich

6 Simon Rolfes

7 Bastian Schweinsteiger

11 Miroslav Klose

13 Michael Ballack

15 Thomas Hitzlsperger

16 Philipp Lahm

17 Per Mertesacker

20 Lukas Podolski

21 Christoph Metzelder



Substitutes:



2 Marcell Jansen

4 Clemens Fritz

5 Heiko Westermann

8 Torsten Frings

9 Mario G¬еmez

10 Oliver Neuville

12 Robert Enke

14 Piotr Trochowski

18 Tim Borowski

19 David Odonkor

22 Kevin Kuranyi

23 Ren¬Ы Adler





-Welcome to Liveresult.ru live coverage of clash between Portugal and Germany.