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Germany go back to their strengths, crush Slovakia
LILLE: Germany thumped Slovakia 3-0 with goals from Jerome Boateng, Mario Gomez and Julian Draxler to cruise into the Euro 2016 quarter-finals on Sunday and confirm
LILLE: Germany thumped Slovakia 3-0 with goals from Jerome Boateng, Mario Gomez and Julian Draxler to cruise into the Euro 2016 quarter-finals on Sunday and confirm their status as tournament favourites with a sparkling performance.
The world champions had made one change to their starting line-up, bringing on Draxler for Mario Goetze.
Central defender Boateng, who had recovered from an injury, connected perfectly with a clearance in the eighth minute to volley in from 25 metres for his first international goal as the world champions took control from the start.
The Germans, who next face either holders Spain or Italy, saw Mesut Ozil’s weak 13th minute penalty saved but Gomez made no mistake two minutes from half-time when he tapped home a perfect cut back from the marauding Draxler.
Draxler, slipping into the starting lineup for the lacklustre Mario Goetze, was then left with far too much space at the far post to volley in their third just past the hour as the Germans kept a fourth straight clean sheet at the finals.