Germany aim to end Italy hoodoo

Germany will be looking to reverse the tide of history when they take on Italy in the second UEFA EURO 2012 semi-final in Warsaw on Thursday.

• Italy have never lost to Germany/West Germany in a competitive fixture and have twice beaten them in semi-finals before, both times at the FIFA World Cup – including in 2006 when Joachim Löw was Germany's assistant coach.

• Three-time winners Germany have won all but one of their six UEFA European Championship semi-finals while Italy, champions in 1968, are still looking for their first semi-final goal – at the fourth attempt.

Head-to-head record
• Italy have posted twice as many wins as Germany in their 30 previous encounters, their record reading W14 D9 L7 F45 A34.

• Italy's record is even better in competitive meetings with three wins and four draws, starting with a 0-0 stalemate at the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile.

• Italy and West Germany's 1970 World Cup semi-final was a classic won by the Azzurri 4-3 after extra time.

• Gianluigi Buffon has conceded just twice in four appearances against Germany while Daniele De Rossi scored in Italy's 4-1 friendly win in March 2006. Italy have not lost to Germany since a 2-0 friendly defeat in Zurich in June 1995.

Selected previous meetings
9 February 2011: Germany 1-1 Italy (Klose 16; Rossi 81) – BVB Stadion, Dortmund, friendly
Germany: Neuer, Badstuber (Hummels 63), Mertesacker, Lahm (Boateng 63), Aogo, Schweinsteiger, Özil, Khedira, Podolski, Müller (Götze 46), Klose (Grosskreutz 75).
Italy: Buffon, Bonucci, Ranocchia, Chiellini (Criscito 78), Cassani (Maggio 53), Motta (Aquilani 63), Montolivo, Mauri (Giovinco 74), De Rossi, Pazzini (Borriello 46), Cassano (Rossi 46).

• Second-half substitute Giuseppe Rossi struck nine minutes from time in Dortmund to extend Italy's unbeaten run against Germany to five matches.

4 July 2006: Germany 0-2 Italy aet (Grosso 119, Del Piero 120) – BVB Stadion, Dortmund, FIFA World Cup, semi-final
Germany: Lehmann, Friedrich, Lahm, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Kehl, Ballack, Borowski (Schweinsteiger 73), Schneider (Odonkor 83), Klose (Neuville 111), Podolski.
Italy: Buffon, Grosso, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Materazzi, Gattuso, Camoranesi (Iaquinta 91), Perrotta (Del Piero 104), Pirlo, Toni (Gilardino 74), Totti.

• With penalties looming, Italy shattered the hosts' hopes as Fabio Grosso curled in a superb left-foot shot. Sixty seconds later Alessandro Del Piero added another to take Marcello Lippi's men a step closer to their fourth World Cup triumph.

19 June 1996: Italy 0-0 Germany – Old Trafford, Manchester, EURO '96, group stage
Italy: Peruzzi, Mussi, Costacurta, Maldini, Carboni (Torricelli 77), Fuser (Di Livio 81), Albertini, Di Matteo (Chiesa 68), Donadoni, Zola, Casiraghi.
Germany: Köpke, Strunz, Freund, Sammer, Helmer, Ziege, Hässler, Eilts, Möller (Bode 89), Klinsmann, Bobic.

• Arrigo Sacchi's side bowed out after failing to break down a Germany side a man down after Thomas Strunz's 59th-minute dismissal. Andreas Köpke saved Gianfranco Zola's penalty and a late Czech Republic equaliser in the group's other match sent Italy home.

11 July 1982: Italy 3-1 West Germany (Rossi 57, Tardelli 69, Altobelli 81; Breitner 83) – Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, FIFA World Cup, final
Italy: Zoff, Bergomi, Cabrini, Collovati, Gentile, Scirea, Oriali, Tardelli, Conti, Graziani (Altobelli 7 (Causio 89)), Rossi.
West Germany: Schumacher, Briegel, Breitner, K Förster, B Förster, Dremmler (Hrubesch 62), Littbarski, Fischer, Rummenigge (H Müller), Stielike, Kaltz.

• Antonio Cabrini's first-half penalty miss did not prove costly as Paolo Rossi hit his sixth goal of the finals, Marco Tardelli and Alessandro Altobelli also scoring as Enzo Bearzot's team secured Italy's third world crown.

Form guide
• Germany are on a world-record 15-match winning streak in competitive fixtures but Italy are unbeaten in 14 UEFA EURO 2012 games since qualifying began, with just four goals conceded.

• Germany have won five of their six UEFA European Championship semi-finals:
2008 Turkey 3-2
1996 England 1-1 (aet, 6-5 pens)
1992 Sweden 3-2
1988 Netherlands 1-2
1976 Yugoslavia 4-2 (aet)
1972 Belgium 2-1

• Italy have won two of their three past semi-finals, despite not scoring a single goal:
1968 Soviet Union 0-0 (won on coin toss)
1988 Soviet Union 0-2
2000 Netherlands 0-0 (aet, 3-1 pens)

Team ties
• As a club coach, Löw lost 3-2 on aggregate to Parma FC in the 1998/99 UEFA Cup first round with Fenerbahçe SK, and 4-2 on aggregate to ACF Fiorentina with FC Wacker Innsbruck in the 2001/02 second round.

• As Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli faced FC Bayern München in successive UEFA Champions League campaigns. In the 2008/09 group stage his Viola side lost 3-0 away – Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger scoring – and drew 1-1 at home, finishing third in the section. In the next season's last 16, Klose's 89th-minute winner earned Bayern a 2-1 victory in Bavaria that proved decisive when Fiorentina won the return 3-2.

• Riccardo Montolivo, who has a German mother, was in that Fiorentina team while Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber, Lukas Podolski, Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller and Mario Gomez also featured for Bayern.

• A Germany side containing Manuel Neuer, Benedikt Höwedes, Jérôme Boateng, Mesut Özil and Mats Hummels earned a 1-0 win against the Italy of Ignazio Abate, Sebastian Giovinco and Mario Balotelli in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-finals.

• Germany were 3-1 winners in the 2008 European U19 Championship final against Italy, Lars Bender scoring and Ron-Robert Zieler playing in goal.

• Mario Götze set up both goals when eventual champions Germany beat Italy in the 2009 European U17 Championship semi-finals.

• In this season's UEFA Champions League, Bayern's Germany contingent faced the SSC Napoli of Morgan De Sanctis and Christian Maggio. Kroos scored past De Sanctis in a 1-1 draw in Naples where De Sanctis saved Gomez's spot kick, though Gomez struck a hat-trick in the ensuing 3-2 win in Munich. Badstuber scored an own goal in the first match and was sent off in the second.

• Balotelli was a substitute in Manchester City FC's 2-0 matchday six victory against a Bayern side including Badstuber and Boateng in the same group campaign. Balotelli and Boateng were City colleagues in 2010/11.

• Özil and Sami Khedira faced Andrea Pirlo and Abate's AC Milan with Real Madrid CF in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League group stage, Özil scoring in a 2-0 win in Spain.

• In the same 2010/11 group stage, Müller and Klose scored to inflict a 2-0 defeat on De Rossi's AS Roma in Munich. De Rossi converted an 81st-minute equaliser as Roma overturned a two-goal deficit, Gomez scoring twice, for a 3-2 victory in the return.

• Antonio Cassano's UC Sampdoria lost to Per Mertesacker's SV Werder Bremen in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League play-offs. Cassano's 85th-minute strike put Sampdoria 3-0 up in the second leg, and 4-3 ahead on aggregate, only for Bremen to level the tie in the dying moments and win in extra time.

• Gomez scored past Buffon when Bayern eliminated Juventus from the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League with a 4-1 group stage victory in Turin. Giorgio Chiellini, Claudio Marchisio and Giovinco were all in the losing team.

• Antonio Di Natale struck three goals for Udinese Calcio against Bremen in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage, equalising in a 1-1 draw in Udine and striking twice in a 4-3 reverse in Germany where Klose scored past De Sanctis.

• Pirlo scored as the Bremen of Tim Wiese, Mertesacker and Özil eliminated Milan on away goals in the 2008/09 UEFA Europa League round of 32. The midfielder was on target in Munich when Milan overcame Bayern in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

• Andrea Barzagli played for VfL Wolfsburg between 2008 and 2011, winning the Bundesliga in his first season.

• Klose joined S.S. Lazio last summer and hit 12 Serie A goals in 2011/12.