Too close a shave for Klose's liking

Miroslav Klose was "satisfied with the score but not with our game" as Germany beat Turkey to book a place in Sunday's UEFA EURO 2008™ final.

Turkey praise
The 30-year-old was delighted after the final whistle as Philipp Lahm's late goal handed Germany victory and a place in the UEFA European Championship final for the sixth time, but Klose was all too aware that Joachim Löw's side rode their luck in Basel. The striker said: "I'm satisfied with the score but not with our game, although we played with a lot of passion at the end and deserved to win. But we didn't want to play like this. Turkey found their way into the game much better than we did, they passed the ball well and got more and more confident."

Scoring pattern
Lessons must be learned for Sunday's final, where Klose hopes his scoring streak will continue, having hit Germany's second against Turkey – his second goal in as many games. "I had several tournaments where I just scored in the group stage but this year it is the other way around," he said. "One goal in the quarter-finals, one goal in the semi-finals; now I want to score in the final as well."

'Nothing to lose'
Lukas Podolski shared his FC Bayern München team-mate's slightly sour assessment of the performance against Turkey, but the 23-year-old was not about to let it spoil his enjoyment of the moment of victory. "We didn't perform like in the Portugal match [where Germany prevailed 3-2 in the quarter-finals]," he said. "Everybody could see that. But we won against a really strong Turkish team that, as the underdog, kept on fighting and had nothing to lose. We are really happy that we made it in the end. Now we can watch the second semi-final [between Spain and Russia] calmly. I don't care if we end up playing against Russia or Spain; both are really good teams. I want to win the trophy either way."

'Incredible!'
Midfielder Simon Rolfes, who made way for Torsten Frings at half-time after sustaining a head injury before the interval, was also feeling optimistic. "We are thrilled that we are in the final of this tournament now but at the same time we are relieved," he said. "Turkey were as strong as we had expected them to be and until the last minute it was a tough match. But when Lahm went to the middle from the left everybody on the bench knew that he would make it happen and the feeling of happiness was indescribable when the ball hit the net. Now we can watch the second semi-final very relaxed. We'll play in the final on Sunday. Incredible!"