?Germany have defeated Greece 4:2 in the second quarter-final of the European Football Championship.

Germany’s Lahm, Sami Khedira, veteran striker Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus all got on the score-sheet to cancel out Giorgos Samaras' and Dimitris Salpingidis' second-half strikes for the Greeks.

Germany will now play England or Italy, who meet in Sunday's Kiev quarter-final, in the semi-final at Warsaw's National Stadium on Thursday as they inflicted Greece's heaviest defeat at a European championships eclipsing the Greeks' 3-1 defeat at the hands of Czechoslovakia in 1980.

The Germans dominated at Arena Gdansk with 700 first-half passes completed compared to the Greeks 70 and the Germans' ball possession never dropped below
60 percent.

With the Germans enjoying 70 percent ball possession, the goal they had been threatening came on 39 minutes when Lahm burst through the left side of the Greek defence and fired home from the edge of the area.

Greece coach Fernando Santos added an extra forward after the break with Sotiris Ninis making way for Fanis Gekas and midfielder Giorgos Fotakis on for defender Giorgos Tzavellas.

The switch paid off when Samaras slipped his marker Jerome Boateng to bundle the ball home from the cross of Salpingidis, who outpaced Lahm on the right flank on 55 minutes.

But Germany reclaimed the lead thanks to a volley from Real Madrid's Khedira whose late run connected with Boateng's cross to leave Sifakis with no chance.

Klose added to his impressive tally with a header from a ?zil free-kick on 68 minutes, while Reus scored the fourth when Klose latched onto ?zil's pass, forcing Sifakis into a save.

But the ball fell to the Dortmund man, who hit the net on 74 minutes. With time almost up Salpingidis scored from the penalty spot after Boateng's foul, but it was too little, too late.