Knaak magic too much for Scotland

A hat-trick from Turid Knaak inspired Germany to a 5-1 victory against Scotland and a place in the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship semi-finals with a Group A game to spare.

The score does not tell the whole story, however, as Scotland matched their opponents for endeavour for long periods until the three-time champions killed the game with a trio of goals in the final eight minutes. Knaak struck either side of Rebecca Dempster's 66th-minute equaliser, completing her treble after Valeria Kleiner's spot-kick, before Annika Doppler rounded off the scoring in added time. With England also on six points thanks to a 2-1 win against Italy, Germany's fixture against the holders on Sunday will decide who wins the section.

Hasret Kayikci's direct running troubled Scotland from the off and, having sold Loren Campbell a dummy, only the crossbar prevented her from giving her team a 13th-minute lead. For all their possession, though, Germany seemed to be heading into the break on level terms until their diminutive No7 brilliantly volleyed in a headed clearance on the cusp of half-time.

The second period continued in a similar vein to that which preceded it until Dempster equalised from out of nowhere, receiving the ball following a throw-in, spinning and firing in a thunderous effort. Parity lasted all of three minutes, however, as Knaak drifted inside from the right and slotted into the bottom corner.

Having already lost two players to injury earlier on – Lisa Evans and Eilish McSorley – Scotland had to withdraw their goalkeeper, Gemma Clark, with a quarter of an hour remaining after she suffered a leg injury when sliding out to halt a Germany attack. Her replacement, Lee Alexander, then picked the ball out of the net three times in the closing stages as Maren Meinert's side gave the scoreline a somewhat unfair complexion.

The third arrived courtesy of Kleiner's penalty before Knaak claimed her hat-trick and Germany’s fourth with an effort which possessed too much power for Alexander. Moments later another replacement, Doppler, finished off Knaak's pass with the last kick of the game.