Lahm ensures Germany enjoy home comforts

It may have felt like an away match at times for Germany as they hosted Turkey in Berlin, but a pair of goals from Miroslav Klose and one more from Mesut Özil ensured Joachim Löw's side left the Olympiastadion with a smile on their faces following a third straight win in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying Group A.

"It was a great atmosphere," said Germany captain Philipp Lahm, whose pass set up Özil for the second goal. "Of course we would have liked there to have been more German fans, but in the end we were able to celebrate a 3-0 win with those who were here. We had to push Turkey and we did really well in the first half."

It was a particularly special game for Özil given his Turkish roots, and the midfielder provided a spark of creativity as well as the all-important second goal with 11 minutes to play. Özil's former FC Schalke 04 team-mate Halil Altıntop lamented: "I'm happy things are going so well for him, but he did not have to score today. It was great to see so many Turkish supporters here. It was not really an away match. Unfortunately, we could not seize the opportunity." Not that Özil had things all his own way, as a knock to his right ankle took the shine off an otherwise perfect evening and puts him in doubt for Tuesday's qualifier in Kazakhstan.

Klose opened the scoring on 42 minutes to give substance to Germany's superiority, but lone Turkey striker Halil Altıntop could have brought his side level when clean through on Manuel Neuer's goal eight minutes after the restart. It took a terrific save from the Germany No1 to deny him, yet Halil Altıntop felt Germany were the stronger team regardless.

"It wasn't a key moment as Germany were clearly the dominant side," he said. "They were deserved winners, but maybe by one goal too many. It was very difficult to play as a lone striker against this Germany team."

Halil's brother Hamit added: "We have to say Germany were better than we were. We lack a bit of experience and understanding. We were solid in defence but lacked courage going forward. We are disappointed but we knew we would suffer setbacks. There is always the return match."

It was the first time Turkey had dropped points in the section, leaving them level with Austria and three behind Germany, for whom this was a third straight victory. "This was the strongest opponent in the group and it's not easy to get a result against them, but we did it today and nine points from three matches is a perfect start," forward Thomas Müller said. "Now we have a small edge, but it will be worth nothing if we don't win against Kazakhstan. If we do that, things will be looking quite good."

Mehmet Aurélio, meanwhile, will miss Turkey's game in Azerbaijan on Tuesday after being carried off with a hamstring injury in the 24th minute.