The highly-fancied Germans reached the last four of the competition after completely outclassing their inferior opponents.
Germany advanced to the semi-finals of Euro 2012 for a record seventh time following a comfortable 4-2 victory over Greece in Gdansk, Poland, on Friday.
The Germans dominated the match from the beginning to the end, and after a series of close calls, they finally went ahead in the 39th minute when Philipp Lahm fired home an unstoppable drive from the edge of the area.
After having taken the lead, it seemed that Germany would soon double their advantage, but from the run of play Georgios Samaras surprisingly put the Greeks on level terms when in the 55th minute he knocked the ball home from close range after meeting an inch-perfect cross from Dimitris Salpigidis.
But Greece's joy was short-lived, as six minutes later Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira put Germany back into the lead when he volleyed home a Jerome Boateng cross in spectacular fashion.
Motivated by the goal, Joachim Loew's efficient side went in search for more, and in the 68th minute Miroslav Klose outjumped Greece goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis to expertly head home a free-kick from Mesut Ozil.
Just six minutes later, Marco Reus put the result way beyond Greece's reach with another incredible volleyed effort that went in off the underside of the crossbar, to the joy of his team-mates and even German chancellor Angela Merkel, who had travelled to Poland specifically to attend the match.
With only a few minutes remaining on the clock, Greece were gifted a penalty kick when Boateng handled the ball in the area, and Salpigidis fired home the resulting spot-kick to salvage some pride for Fernando Santos' side.
Germany will face the winner of Sunday's quarter-final between England and Italy in the semi-finals of Euro 2012 on June 28.
The Germans dominated the match from the beginning to the end, and after a series of close calls, they finally went ahead in the 39th minute when Philipp Lahm fired home an unstoppable drive from the edge of the area.
After having taken the lead, it seemed that Germany would soon double their advantage, but from the run of play Georgios Samaras surprisingly put the Greeks on level terms when in the 55th minute he knocked the ball home from close range after meeting an inch-perfect cross from Dimitris Salpigidis.
But Greece's joy was short-lived, as six minutes later Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira put Germany back into the lead when he volleyed home a Jerome Boateng cross in spectacular fashion.
Motivated by the goal, Joachim Loew's efficient side went in search for more, and in the 68th minute Miroslav Klose outjumped Greece goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis to expertly head home a free-kick from Mesut Ozil.
Just six minutes later, Marco Reus put the result way beyond Greece's reach with another incredible volleyed effort that went in off the underside of the crossbar, to the joy of his team-mates and even German chancellor Angela Merkel, who had travelled to Poland specifically to attend the match.
With only a few minutes remaining on the clock, Greece were gifted a penalty kick when Boateng handled the ball in the area, and Salpigidis fired home the resulting spot-kick to salvage some pride for Fernando Santos' side.
Germany will face the winner of Sunday's quarter-final between England and Italy in the semi-finals of Euro 2012 on June 28.
