It was always going to take something special to eliminate Turkey, like one of those movie monsters that can be killed only by a stake through the heart, or a silver bullet. It was going to need a savage plot twist, perhaps, or a ruthless hero, coldly determined to meet his destiny for the cause. Somehow, because this is what they do in big football tournaments, the Germans found such a man, and such a narrative, at St Jakob-Park last night.

Philipp Lahm, the defender, scored the winning goal that propelled his country to their sixth European Championship final, with one minute of a quite stunning semi-final remaining. Germany had three efforts on target all evening, and each one ended in a goal. Turkey’s odyssey was never going to end in any way that followed conventional logic, although this was taking its anomalous nature perhaps too far.

Turkey, with just five fit substitutes, including a goalkeeper, were the better team, there is little denying that. They hit the bar, went close on several occasions and made the contest far tighter than it was entitled to be. That most believed the result flattered Germany is, frankly, little short of miraculous in the circumstances. Imagine England in a leading championship semi-final without David James, Micah Richards, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen and you have some idea.

At half-time, Germany’s substitutes took over their portion of the pitch, while a quintet of outnumbered Turks, including Tolga Zengin, their third-choice goalkeeper, played keep-ball on the edge of the penalty area at the opposite end, like kids in a park. One almost expected them to go up to the Germans and ask if they could join in.

Yet despite this disadvantage, Turkey not only managed to take the lead, but dominated the first half, before mounting a late comeback when it looked as if Germany had the game won. Until Lahm scored, it seemed that another Turkish revival would take the game into extra time. It raised the intriguing prospect of whether the sheer will that has marked the Turkey campaign could overcome Germany in a penalty shoot-out. We shall never know because the Germans did not let it get that far. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm may have been born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, but in football tournaments at least, this is a country that does not do fairytales.

Even so, it took one of the finest goals of the tournament for them to win; a goal that the Turks will surely concede had more than a flavour of the determination that had driven their own progress. It was skilful and well executed, yes, but brave also, and it was created and finished by a player who had every reason to hide, having been caught out for Turkey’s goals.

This could have been a night to forget for Lahm, and instead he made it one to remember. His man-of-the-match award was laughable, but if there was a secondary prize for courage he would have deserved that.

Turkey’s first goal came down his side, and their second saw him utterly outfoxed by Sabri Sarioglu. Just three minutes later, a great many players would not have been looking to invite further attention.

Not Lahm. It was his run, cutting inside Kazim Kazim — known to his old Leytonstone chums as Colin — and forcing the Turkey midfield player to turn an ankle, so sharp was his change of direction, that won the game. Lahm made a pass to Thomas Hitzlsperger and continued his progress, getting the ball back with the goal, and the final, opening up before him. He shaped to shoot right, shot left, and the match was over. It was a bravura finale from the Germany team but they will need to find the form that dispatched Portugal to lift the trophy in Vienna on Sunday.

It was a cruel way for Turkey to lose, yet strangely appropriate considering their modus operandi throughout this competition. They were in with a fighter’s chance until the last minute of the semi-final, but led in matches for only 14 minutes out of 508. Still, they were carried out on their shields, as great warriors should be, the extent of their resistance measured by the fact that, with the scores tied at half-time, Germany were considered to have ridden their luck.

Kazim-Richards signalled Turkish intent with a shot from 20 yards after six minutes, before his shot hit the bar on 13 minutes. With each attack, Turkey got closer, until the 21st minute when Kazim-Richards hit the bar from a cross by Ayhan Akman and Ugur Boral forced the rebound through the legs of Lehmann.

Turkey are not natural front-runners and within five minutes Germany had equalised. Lukas Podolski curled in a low cross that Bastian Schweinsteiger met with one of the most perfectly timed runs of the tournament, getting in front of Mehmet Topal and directing his flick into the far corner, way out of the reach of Rüstü Reçber in Turkey’s goal.