Germany 0-2 France, Uefa Euro 2016 semi-final - Griezmann double seals Portugal final
Atletico Madrid star takes his tally for the tournament to six with another brace in Marseille.
Full-time: Germany 0-2 France
- Hosts will meet Portugal in Sunday's final after an impressive victory over the reigning world champions in front of a partisan crowd in Marseille
- Germany thoroughly dominated the opening 45 minutes at the Stade Velodrome, but were unable to break the deadlock and fell behind through an Antoine Griezmann penalty on the stroke of half-time after Bastian Schweinsteiger was penalised for handball
- Euro 2016's top scorer later extended his tally to six by poking home a loose ball after Manuel Neuer had failed to clear Paul Pogba's cross
Gignac comes on for Giroud and Leroy Sane gets his first taste of Euro 2016 after replacing Schweinsteiger.
The 20-year-old Schalke winger, who has been heavily linked with Manchester City over recent weeks, almost scores with his first touch before Mustafi fires hopelessly over the top.
Time is running out for Germany.
Germany concede their first goal of the entire tournament from open play. A poor touch from Kimmich in the box opens the door for Pogba, who stands up Mustafi before a brilliant trick opens up space for the cross.
Neuer, looking to keep the ball away from a lurking Giroud, fails to generate much power on his punch in no man's land and Griezmann is alert to stab the ball home with his left boot.
That's his second of the night and his sixth of the competition to date. That may well be curtains for Germany.
Boateng looks to have hurt his hamstring while playing a sweeping long pass. He hobbles off the field with the help of two physios and will definitely not be able to continue.
Valencia's Mustafi comes on in his place. A massive blow for Germany to lose arguably the best centre-half in European football at the moment.
Low cuts a picture of frustration on the sidelines.
The awarding of that spot-kick appears to have caused a lot of division and bickering across social media, although I'm not quite sure why. While you can make the argument that it wasn't quite an intentional handball from Schweinsteiger, he was incredibly silly to lead with his arm like that.
It's just asking for trouble, particularly after Boateng's mistake against Italy. He can have no complaints.
After being dominated for all of about five minutes in this opening 45, France edge ahead from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.
There is a lot of confusion about what has happened before it emerges that Schweinsteiger put his hand up to handle a corner while challenging with Evra.
He joins Can in the book and Griezmann steps up to send Neuer the wrong way from the spot. That is his fifth goal in six games at Euro 2016.
The Stade Velodrome erupts.
Giroud gets the better of Boateng in the air to charge clean through with a lot of distance to cover. The ponderous Gunners striker looks like he is wading through treacle and is thwarted by a sensational covering challenge from Howedes.
Fantastic defending. The Schalke skipper roars in celebration.
Ozil mishits a volley and the ball finds its way into the path of Schweinsteiger. The injury-plagued skipper unleashes a fierce drive that is helped on its way over by Lloris.
You can't take your eyes off this match for a second. It's been a very exciting opening half an hour and dominant Germany have played some terrific football. France need to rediscover a foothold, or at least prove devastatingly effective on the counter-attack if they are to have a chance of reaching the final.
The excellent Kroos instigates a beautiful one-two before demonstrating a serious change of pace. He successfully rides once challenge from Matuidi and looks to break into the box, where he is stopped by a combination of Pogba and Umtiti.
He wants a foul for the contact from Pogba, but Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli is unmoved.
Having dominated from the off, France carve out the first opportunity of the night when Matuidi and Griezmann combine in a slick passive move. The latter drifts across the edge of the box and shows good skill before firing a low effort that is tipped away by the outstretched arm of Neuer.
Great athleticism from the German number one.
There is a lively and vibrant atmosphere building inside the Stade Velodrome, as you might expect on a momentous occasion such as this. The hosts will be backed by a vocal, fanatical crowd in Marseille, but that is unlikely to phase a team as richly experienced in the big events as Germany.
National anthems to come.
Overall, France have won 12, drawn six and lost 10 of their previous 28 matches against tonight's opponents. A quarter-final header from Hummels knocked them out of the 2014 World Cup at the Maracana.
Their last contest was in November 2015, when Giroud and Andre-Pierre Gignac both scored in a 2-0 victory on the same night as those awful attacks in Paris.
These two teams have met five times already in major competition, but never in a European Championship. Perhaps their most famous meeting came in Seville 34 years ago, when a 3-3 semi-final draw led to eventual runners-up West Germany becoming the first team to win a World Cup penalty shootout.
That match has gone down in infamy for a ludicrously awful "challenge" from goalkeeper Harald Schumacher that rendered Patrick Battiston unconscious and left him with two less teeth and nursing three broken ribs. Amazingly, referee Charles Corver did not even award a foul.
France approached this tournament against a backdrop of significant social and labour unrest, terrorism fears and a national state of emergency that has been in place ever since the tragic events in Paris last November.
Returning to a charged atmosphere at the Stade de France for their opener against Romania, Les Bleus, who have won both previous tournaments on home soil at Euro 84 and the 1998 World Cup, were underwhelming for long periods before finally taking the lead through a Giroud header. Dimitri Payet sealed victory with a stunning late strike after Patrice Evra had clumsily conceded a penalty.
It was a similar story against Albania, with the tournament minnows defending valiantly until coming unstuck to stoppage-time goals from Griezmann and Payet. Deschamps made several changes for a meeting with Switzerland that saw France hit the woodwork three times before sealing top spot in Group A with a goalless draw.
Pogba paid the price for an early foul on Shane Long in the last-16 contest with the Republic of Ireland as Robbie Brady made no mistake from the spot. Les Bleus endured a torrid first half in Lyon, but eventually survived that scare when two goals in quick succession from the impressive Griezmann turned the tide in their favour. Shane Duffy's red card all but ended Irish hopes of a comeback.
France came to the boil nicely in the quarter-finals last Sunday night, savagely ending plucky Iceland's fairytale run with an emphatic 5-2 win in Saint-Denis. Giroud bagged himself a brace, while Pogba, Payet and Griezmann also registered on the scoresheet. The hosts were 4-0 to the good at half-time.
So how did each side make it to the semi-finals?
Germany kicked off their quest for a record-breaking fourth European title and a first since 1996 with a rather tame 2-0 victory over Ukraine secured courtesy of goals from Shkodran Mustafi and late substitute Schweinsteiger.
They were subsequently involved in a truly dour goalless draw with old rivals Poland and topped Group C thanks to a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland. Die Mannschaft absolutely dominated that game in Paris, but only scored once in the first half through Gomez after beingcontinually frustrated by a series of outstanding saves from goalkeeper Michael McGovern.
Low's side enjoyed more luck in front of goal against Slovakia in the last-16, with Jerome Boateng, Gomez and Julian Draxler all notching in a 3-0 rout.
That latter win set-up a quarter-final showdown with Italy, a team they had never previously beaten in eight competitive matches. Ozil broke the deadlock by finishing a lovely passing move just past the hour mark, but an inexplicable handball from the otherwise colossal Boateng allowed Leonardo Bonucci to equalise from the spot.
The tie eventually progressed to a rather farcical penalty shootout that saw Muller, Ozil and Schweinsteiger all miss. Thankfully for Germany, however, the comical Simone Zaza, Graziano Pelle and Bonucci all did likewise before Manuel Neuer saved from Matteo Darmian. Jonas Hector slid the winning effort under Gianluigi Buffon.
Not the sort of performance from 12 yards that we have come to expect, but nevertheless it maintained their truly formidable record of 40 years without a penalty defeat. Could that change tonight?
France have named an unchanged side in consecutive matches for the first time ever in this competition. Moussa Sissoko of Newcastle retains his place ahead of Kante and Deschamps chooses to keep faith with Umtiti rather than immediately restore Rami.
Sissoko will line up on the right, allowing top scorer Antoine Griezmann to patrol that dangerous area behind central striker Olivier Giroud. Blaise Matuidi and Paul Pogba, who has today been subject to fresh rumours over a £100m world-record switch back to Manchester United, keep things ticking over in midfield.
Germany make two enforced changes from the Italy game, with Schweinsteiger deputising for Khedira and Liverpool's Emre Can replacing Gomez.
Those two will likely form a midfield three alongside Toni Kroos, with Thomas Muller, who is yet to score a single goal at the European Championship despite his formidable World Cup record, pushed forward and flanked by Mesut Ozil and Julian Draxler.
Low thankfully resists the temptation to rekindle his failed false nine experiment with Mario Gotze. It looks like he has opted for a switch to 4-3-3 instead. Joshua Kimmich is at right-back.
France head coach Didier Deschamps has no pressing injury concerns, but will welcome back in-demand Leicester City midfielder N'Golo Kante tonight after a one-match ban.
He is also presented with something of a conundrum at centre-back, with Adil Rami also returning from suspension. The Sevilla defender will no doubt be expecting to resume his partnership with Laurent Koscielny, but it could be that Les Bleus keep faith in new Barcelona signing Samuel Umtiti despite his uncertain international debut in the 5-2 thrashing of Iceland.
A quick note on team news before the official lineups break in the next few minutes. Germany will definitely be without Mario Gomez after the experienced Fiorentina striker, who earned a recall to the international scene last year after a fruitful loan spell with Turkish champions Besiktas, suffered a pulled right hamstring during the quarter-final victory over Italy last weekend. He has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament, but is remaining with the squad in a support role.
Sami Khedira was substituted after just 16 minutes of that match with an adductor problem and is also unavailable tonight. However, Joachim Low has stated that Bastian Schweinsteiger will start in his place despite spraining knee ligaments. Benedikt Howedes is also available after returning to training on Wednesday, but influential centre-back Mats Hummels is out after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament in Bordeaux.
Good evening and a very warm welcome to IBTimes UK's penultimate live coverage of Uefa Euro 2016. After Cristiano Ronaldo inspired dour Portugal to end the Welsh fairytale and book their place in Sunday's final yesterday, tonight focus shifts to Marseille where hosts France look to join them in a heavyweight clash with reigning world champions Germany at the Stade Velodrome.
Stay with us for all the build-up to this hotly-anticipated clash, including breaking team news and confirmed line-ups. We will also have live updates after kick-off at 20.00 BST.
This should hopefully be an absolute cracker.
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