Germany 3 Turkey 2: Lahm has last word to deprive Turkey's never-say-die heroes

They wear you down, they make you believe you have a chance and then, when you least expect it, they break your hearts. Typical Germany. This sensational game was won by Philipp Lahm's last minute goal, and it is Germany who are in the Euro 2008 final but it was Turkey whose brilliant, fearless performance so nearly changed the course of this tournament dramatically.

They say that you never remember the beaten semi-finalists but then the beaten semi-finalists so rarely put up a fight like this and in such unpromising circumstances too. Four minutes from time, Turkey believed that they had rescued this game with Semih Senturk's equaliser, their fourth improbable comeback in a tournament they just did not want to leave. As electrical storms wiped out the live television coverage across Europe for 10 minutes, so this game crackled and fizzed. Those of us in the stadium did not want to take our eyes from it.

How did Germany do it? The old, time-honoured tradition of holding their nerve when it mattered most, by taking their chances however few they were and never being inhibited by the greater flair and ambition of their opponents. When, in the last moments of the game, Lahm exchanged passes with Thomas Hitzlsperger and got his sight of goal you knew he could not miss. Not because it was him, not because Turkey's goalkeeper Rustu has looked shaky but because the entire history of the Germany team tells us that German footballers do not flinch when offered chances like that.

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Sunday will be Germany's 13th final in World Cups and European Championships, a mind-numbing figure for those of us who follow the England team. They were not even the better team last night but that has not stopped them in the past. At the start of the game the German fans unfurled a banner that read "Vienna is the destination of our journey". It seemed a trifle presumptuous at the time, but by the end of the much you were reminded of why this spring of confidence flows so freely.

As a contest, Hamit Altintop outshone Michael Ballack, Sabri Sarioglu had the better of Lahm, Colin Kazim-Richards looked every inch the international player. Somehow Terim fashioned a competitive side from the odds and ends of his squad that were left after the suspensions and injuries. Rustu was at fault for Miroslav Klose's goal, Germany's second, but even he was not as poor as Jens Lehmann who could blame no-one but himself for both the goals scored by Turkey.

What did you miss when the television screens went blank in England? While the lights went out in Europe, the Swiss television producers developed an obsession with Lahm's girlfriend Claudia – straight out of central casting for Heidi – who, in the stand, got about as much screen-time as the action on the pitch. More pertinently there was a Turkey team that was crucially lacking a strong centre-forward. If Turkey had a striker capable of roughing up the defensive pairing of Christoph Metzelder and Per Mertesacker then they would have been in the final on Sunday.

Turkey built many good attacking positions down the right wing, especially during the second half, but so often Kazim-Richards and Sarioglu found themselves doubling back instead of crossing when it became obvious there was no-one to aim at. On the ball, Mertesacker's passing was suspect, Arne Friedrich was exposed more than once but Turkey, who had 20 shots to Germany's nine, did not have the resources to make them pay.

In what was the only sign of weakness in the indefatigable German approach, Joachim Low said that he would celebrate the victory with a cigarette. The cigars will have to wait until after Sunday when Germany will play either Russia or Spain for what would potentially be their fourth European title – a record. But after 13 minutes last night they were rocking, Kazim-Richards hit a shot that crashed against Lehmann's bar and by the 22nd minute, Turkey had scored.

The ball was played down to Ayhan Akman on the goal line down to the right of Lehmann's goal, he cut it back to Sarioglu and it was crossed for Kazim-Richards. He essayed an overhead kick and, without generating much power the ball struck the bar. Amid all this Lehmann looked disorientated, but the worst was yet to come for him. Ugur Boral got there first to hit the follow-up which dribbled through the goalkeeper's legs and over the line.

Acute embarrassment for Lehmann, beaten by nothing more than a hopeful toe-poke. Even more insulting for this famously complex character was Turkey's determination to shoot every time they got a sight of the German goal, clearly on the basis that they did not rate Lehmann. Later the former Arsenal goalkeeper was obliged to re-adjust completely in order to tip an Altintop free-kick over the bar that was struck from just inside the German half and looked initially like a cross.

Within four minutes of the goal, the Germans were level and, for a team who have been clinical on the break it was a glorious return to form. Hitzlsperger released Lukas Podolski down the left wing and, in the area, Bastian Schweinsteiger cut to the near post in order to meet the cross which he flicked with the outside of his foot into the far corner. In the entire tournament the Turks have only been in the lead for 13 minutes over five games.

Six minutes after the break Turkey benefited from arguably the worst refereeing decision thus far at the tournament. Lahm put one foot inside the Turkish area from the right flank and was caught by Sarioglu at speed, knee-to-thigh as he crossed the line into the area and, incredibly, the Swiss referee did not even blow for a foul.

Rustu was badly at fault for Klose's goal, he came for Lahm's high ball and failed to get a glove on it, allowing the Bayern Munich striker to head in. Then an unlikely lifeline. From Sarioglu's cross, Semih stole in at the near post and, with Lehmann at fault again, he flicked the ball past the goalkeeper. In injury-time, Lahm exchanged passes with Hitzlsperger and dashed into the area to score the goal that decided it all. There would be no time for another Turkish comeback.

Germany (4-2-3-1): Lehmann (Stuttgart); Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Metzelder (Real Madrid), Lahm (Bayern Munich); Hitzlsperger (Stuttgart), Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen); Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Ballack (Chelsea), Podolski (Bayern Munich); Klose (Bayern Munich). Substitutes used: Frings (Werder Bremen) for Rolfes, h-t; Jansen (Bayern Munich) for Klose, 90.

Turkey (4-1-4-1): Rustu (Besiktas); Sabri Sanoglu (Galatasaray), Topal (Galatasaray), Zan (Besiktas), Balta (Galatasaray); Aurelio (Fenerbahçe); Kazim-Richards (Fenerbahçe), Altintop (Bayern Munich), Akman (Galatasaray), Boral (Fenerbahçe); Semih (Fenerbahçe). Substitutes used: Erdinc (Sochaux) for Akman, 81; Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan) for Boral, 84; Metin (Larissa) for Kazim- Richards, 90.

Referee: M Busacca (Switzerland)

Booked: Turkey Semih.

Man of the match: Altintop.

Euro 2008's last-gasp goals

Arda, Turkey 2-1 Switzerland

Vastic, Austria 1-1 Poland

Villa, Spain 2-1 Sweden

Nihat, Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic

Guiza, Spain 2-1 Greece

Semih, Turkey 1-1 Croatia

Lahm, Germany 3-2 Turkey