Germany eased ominously into the semi-finals of Euro 2012 - where they will meet either England or Italy - as Greece's resistance finally crumbled.
Having set out to frustrate from the off, once they fell behind to Philipp Lahm's goal just before half-time the 2004 champions were always up against it.
Having equalised somewhat unexpectedly through Celtic forward Giorgios Samaras they could not hold on for very long, and goals from Sami Khedira, Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus merely reflected the dominance of the three-time winners of this tournament before Dimitris Salpingidis' late penalty.
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On the four previous occasions Germany have won a last-eight encounter they have reached the final, and this performance increased the likelihood of them making it five.
For a long time in the first half it appeared they might regret a number of missed chances, but once Lahm broke the deadlock there was only going to be one winner.
Greece, who have now have never beaten their opponents in nine competitive matches, scrambled, scampered and blocked their way towards half-time only for the Germany captain to fire home a swerving effort from outside the penalty area six minutes before the break.
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