Career high for hero Lahm

Emotions
With the teams tied at 2-2 and extra time looming, Lahm decided an exciting contest at St. Jakob-Park when he played a one-two with Thomas Hitzlsperger and burst into the Turkey box before flashing the ball between Rüştü Reçber and the near post. "It was a great ball to me, I got a good first touch which allowed me to take it on and hit it really well," Lahm said. "It is hard to describe the emotions you feel, but when you see the subs' bench running towards you, it shows the character and togetherness in the team."

Career-defining moment
Lahm said his goal had helped make amends for his unwanted role in Semih Şentürk's equaliser four minutes earlier when Sabrı Sarıoğlu tricked his way past the Germany defender before crossing for Semih to score. "I appreciate that I didn't do too well with their second equaliser, and I made some mistakes during the 90 minutes, but the goal I scored was the most important of my career," the FC Bayern München full-back said.

Award
According to Lahm – selected as Carlsberg Man of the Match by the UEFA Technical Team – Germany may not have been at their best against Turkey but they will be ready for whoever they face in Sunday's final in Vienna. "A semi-final is always a special match and is always a fight," he said. "We didn't play as well as we'd wanted to, but there are ups and downs in every game and maybe these were more extreme than usual, particularly with the late goals for either side.

Delight
"We are delighted to have come through the match, especially after we lost the semi-final [of the FIFA World Cup to Italy] in 2006. You don't reach too many semi-finals or finals at this level, so our goal now is to win the tournament. We are delighted to be through and we'll be playing for the fans. It doesn't matter who we play because we will be ready for it."