Euro 2008: Portugal Choke As Germany Goes Through!

Bastian Schweinsteiger was the man of the night, scoring one and setting up another two as Germany took advantage of Portugal's frailties in defence to claim a 3-2 victory and book its place in the Euro 2008 semi finals.

The Bayern Munich winger swept home the opener in the 23rd minute before whipping in two great free-kicks to lay goals on a plate for Miroslav Klose, four minutes later, and Michael Ballack just after the hour mark.

Portugal, whose defending was dreadful at those set-pieces, had made it 2-1 when Nuno Gomes forced a shot home in the 40th minute but their bid to make the semis for a third successive tournament failed, despite Helder Postiga's 87th-minute consolation.

Cristiano Ronaldo's left-footed shot rebounded of Jens Lehmann and it was turned in by Nuno Gomes.

I believe Schweinsteiger finally did justice to his potential and made amends for his sending off against Croatia.

The Portuguese backline looked horribly out of sorts. Pepe and Ricardo Carvalho were ordinary on the night; the latter was very poor on set pieces.

The final score suggests it was a close game, but, in all truth, Germany were clearly the better team and dominated a major chunk of the game.

Ronaldo showed flashes of class but played nowhere near to his potential; Joao Moutinho was injured and replaced at half hour mark by Raul Mereiles.

Portugal keep their "Chokers" tag and Germany go through. That's a wrap, I guess.

Micheal Ballack, Miroslav Klose, Philip Lahm, and Bastian Schweinsteiger were brilliant on the night and played a major role in Germany's victory.

As for Portugal, Deco will be looking for a new club, Scolari will take over at Chelsea and we might just get something out of Ronaldo or not.