Colleagues congratulated the team’s smallest member as if he was a giant. “This was sensational”, said Miroslav Klose. “Philipp decided the match with a superb move”, enthused Michael Ballack. “It was fantastic that he scored such a goal. It is crazy: We have known each other for an eternity, and now he has scored this most important goal”, rejoiced Bastian Schweinsteiger. They all spoke of Philipp Lahm, who scored the fantastic 90th minute winner to ascertain the 3-2 (1-1) victory over Turkey in the semi-final of the 2008 UEFA European Championship™. “We needed an individual performance, and Philipp Lahm provided it, thank God”, said Franz Beckenbauer. It sounded like a sigh. Throughout the whole of Germany millions of people cheered the little defender’s wonderful goal, at public viewings or in front of their TV sets at home. Tensed and anxious the fans’ nerves had been tortured by the German team. At the end Lahm opened the door to the final, relieved all tension and plunged the country into unlimited joy and exuberant cheering.

The achievement by the selection of the German Football Association, DFB, was the first final reached in a UEFA EURO or FIFA World Cup tournament since the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ , and the 13th since 1954. National coach Joachim Loew’s team now have the chance next Sunday to win the Henry Delaunay Cup as UEFA European Champion™ for the fourth time, following 1972, 1980 and 1996. Boisterous high spirits reigned in the dressing room, as accompanied by loud music the players celebrated their triumph, which had proved much more difficult than expected. Lahm was voted “Man of the Match” by the UEFA experts, for he finished the most conspicuous professional amid the hectic battle, despite not showing his best form. “I would rather have deserved that title in other matches”, Lahm admitted. The Munich player had been guilty of unusual mistakes for the two Turkish goals at 0-1 (22nd) and 2-2 (86th). Lahm was often left on his own against the surprisingly strong attacks by Kazim and Sabri on the right wing.

Lahm ran like a weasel, something he has been known for since he made his debut in the national team prior to the UEFA EURO 2004™. He invariably intervened in attacks in the opposing half, creating alarm among the opposing Reds. Nobody would have complained, even very few Turks, if referee Massimo Busacca of Switzerland had awarded a penalty in the 51st minute when Sabri overran nippy Lahm on the penalty area line. In the 79th minute the 1.70m tall defender crossed the ball for Miroslav Klose, who had finally received a perfect pass, to head the ball into the net for the 2-1 lead. But Lahm only became the total hero of the evening seconds from time in this dramatic encounter. After a double pass move with Thomas Hitzlsperger he rounded an opposing player and scooped the ball past goalkeeper Rustu for the 3-2 winner. What followed was an eruption of emotions, globally among German fans as well as on the coaching bench in a radius of 30 metres inside St. Jakobs Park Stadium in Basle.

“You rejoice, of course, but it was particularly great how everybody around me was cheering”, was how Lahm described his emotions. “You run to the bench, all 23 players are rejoicing as well as the coaching staff. It simply shows what kind of a team we are”. When Lahm talks about his matches it is always with bubbling enthusiasm, as if he was still playing with the youth team of Freie Turnerschaft Gern, his first Munich club. “It is most important that you always believe in your own performance, and that of the team. That makes it possible to scored such late goals”, he said about his third goal in his 46th international match.

His goal at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, the first of the tournament, for the Germans to take the lead in their eventual 4-2 win over Costa Rica, was a booster then. This time his goal was not a signpost pointing at a good tournament to come, it was a relief. Bastian Schweinsteiger assisted the little defender’s success. “I was standing quite near. At first I was ready to accept the ball. But then I heard the shout ‘Leo’ in the background and as I have known Philipp’s voice for a long time I knew I could let it pass. Crazy that he then scored the goal”, ‘Schweini’ disclosed. “Leo” – that’s not an unknown or new fellow-player but the code among footballers, from professionals down to local park players, when a team-mate should not take the ball but leave it to another. Lahm quickly checked his opportunities: “You look at the goalkeeper and then think where you want to kick the ball”. He netted it. You can’t practise that, he said, and laughed: “With Bayern I’m not allowed to shoot in the penalty box”.

Klose thought the golden goal by his Bayern team-mate was simply fantastic: “The guy is incredible. At the end he simply joined the attack and scored. The guy is brilliant.” The German players admitted that they have to show a greatly improved performance in Vienna if they want to get to the top on their mountain tour. “It was not a good match against Turkey”, said Philipp Lahm, “but we are in the final, that’s something we failed to achieve at the World Cup. If we win the final 3-2, we will be happy – no matter how we achieve it.“