Confederations Cup semi-final: Germany 4-1 Mexico

Leon Goretzka has been linked with a move to Arsenal this summer

Leon Goretzka scored twice in the opening eight minutes as Germany beat Mexico 4-1 in Sochi to join Chile in the Confederations Cup final.

The Schalke midfielder swept home a Benjamin Henrichs pass from 20 yards and then slotted home from Timo Werner's through ball.

Werner then tapped home Jonas Hector's pass to increase Germany's lead.

Marco Fabian scored a brilliant 35-yard strike for Mexico, before Amin Younes added a fourth for Germany.

Mexico had plenty of chances to come back into the game at 2-0 down but squandered them.

Fabian's stunner came too late to threaten a comeback, although there was a chaotic ending with several chances at both ends.

While Germany go on to Sunday's final in St Petersburg, Mexico face Portugal in a third-fourth play-off earlier that day.

• Relive the action as it happened

Future looks bright for Germany

Timo Werner scored Germany's third to join Leon Goretzka on three goals for the tournament

Germany boss Joachim Low left most of his regular star players at home, including Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller.

And the fact their weakened squad includes first-team players from Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Paris St-Germain, Arsenal and Liverpool speaks a lot about the strength in depth of German football.

Germany have two young teams in international finals this weekend. Five of the starting 11 in the Confederations Cup semi-final would have been eligible for Friday's European Under-21 Championship final against Spain - including Goretzka and Werner, who are now joint top scorers in the tournament with three apiece.

Despite their opponents having chances, Germany looked comfortable, with Goretzka impressive before he was replaced midway through the second half and Werner staking a claim to be Germany's first-choice striker for next summer's World Cup.

The RB Leipzig frontman could have scored more, but was thwarted when he attempted to poke one effort through Guillermo Ochoa's legs, and put another shot wide.

Ajax's Younes scored their late fourth, turning home a pass from fellow substitute Emre Can.

Twenty six shots, one goal.

It took Mexico 89 minutes, but they finally beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen

With better finishing, Mexico could have revitalised a game that felt over within eight minutes. They had more than twice as many shots as Germany - 26-12 - and had more efforts on target too, eight to seven.

Fabian's effort from a short free-kick was the best goal of the game.

At 2-0, Giovani dos Santos forced a save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Javier Hernandez shot over from six yards, while Hector Herrera and Raul Jimenez also tested the Barcelona keeper.

Jimenez went even closer when he hit the crossbar with a header in the 75th minute, although at 3-0 that would only have been a consolation.

After Younes made it 4-1 in injury time, Mexico still had time for more attempts with Hernandez clipping the post and Jimenez heading wide.

Mexico start their Gold Cup defence a week after their third-fourth play-off against Portugal.

However, only three members of the Confederations Cup squad are playing in the tournament for teams in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

'An intense game' - managers react

Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio: "We deserved a better result. They were very efficient and we gave them too much room, but we should have scored at least one or two more goals.

"We had enough chances to do so. Even after conceding early on we had the mental strength to fight back."

Germany boss Joachim Low: "It was an intense game. That the team managed to do what we'd discussed during our preparations for the match was both important and impressive.

"Mexico try to impose their game on their opponents but we showed that we wanted to win and dominate. We did that superbly, especially in the first 15 or 20 minutes.

"Our young players deserve credit for that. We got what we wanted, but you can't count on that happening before the game. It was a wonderful performance."