Germany coach Joachim Löw said his side were lucky to book a place in the Euro 2008 final with their last-gasp 3-2 semi-final win against Turkey on Wednesday.

“Turkey were very strong technically and there were sections of the game when we couldn’t get a grip,” Löw said after watching his team fight back from conceding an early goal before securing victory with a 90th-minute Philipp Lahm goal.

“We saw how Turkey had come back three times at this tournament to turn games completely on their head, so we knew what was coming. In the last few minutes we were trembling but we were lucky enough to score in the 90th minute.

“We were pretty convinced then that they wouldn’t be able to come back for a fourth match.”

“Turkey were combining excellently in midfield, though, so I thought it was the right choice to stick with one forward and not sacrifice our strength in midfield,” the coach added.

“We’ve got a winner’s mentality and want to win the title,” said Löw. “There’s a lot of joy and happiness tonight.

“Tomorrow we’ve got to start getting ready for the final. We’ve got to do a lot better.

“We’ve had some great matches in this tournament, one or two that weren’t so good, but we’ve made it into the final.

“When we’ve come so far we obviously want to win and we’re going to bring the winner’s mentality into the match.”