Germany suffered its heaviest-ever defeat at the U-21 level as Portugal stormed to a 5-0 domination in Olomouc.
The Portuguese have made the finals of the U-21 Euros for the first time since 1994 - a team that featured Luis Figo, Rui Costa, and Joao Pinto - as they got five goals from five different goalscorers and dominated from whistle to whistle.
Bernardo Silva got things started in the 25th minute, a just result for his performance at the top, and that was just the beginning of the assault on Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s goal. Ricardo turned one in at close range for the second on 33 minutes, and they added a third in first-half injury time Ivan Cavaleiro punished the top corner with a blistering strike.
If Germany thought halftime would provide a respite, they were sorely mistaken. Not a minute into the second half, Portugal went 4-0 up as Joao Mario had a deflected shot from well outside the box bury into the far corner. That was that for the match, as Germany had no way back. Portugal would cruise the rest of the way, picking up the fifth from substitute Ricardo Horta 19 minutes before the merciful final whistle.
Despite five different goalscorers, easily the man of the match was William Carvalho who provided effortless distribution from the base of the diamond midfield and helped Portugal to an 86% pass completion rate. Germany also found them forced into needless fouling, resulting in 19 whistles against them and a second yellow for substitute Leonardo Bittencourt after just 25 minutes on the field with the scoreline having just been made 5-0.
The win sends Portugal into the final where they will take on Sweden or Denmark on Tuesday in Prague.