Bastian Schweinsteiger set his sights on gaining revenge over Croatia after guiding Germany into the Euro 2008 quarter-finals against Portugal.The Bayern Munich star, returning to the fold after being sent-off in the Group B match against Croatia resulting in his suspension for the final pool game against Austria, opened the scoring and then set up further goals for Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack as the Germans ran out 3-2 winners at Basle's St Jakob-Park.

Nuno Gomes pulled one back for Portugal five minutes before half-time to make it 2-1 and substitute Helder Postiga gave Luiz Felipe Scolari's side a glimmer of hope three minutes from the end but the Euro 2004 finalists could not force an equaliser.

Joachim Low's team will return to Basle for Wednesday's first semi-final against either Croatia or Turkey, who contest the second last-eight tie on Friday.

And Schweinsteiger is hoping Germany get the chance to make amends for their 2-1 defeat to Slaven Bilic's side in the pool phase.

"Yes, of course, we'd like to have Croatia," he said of his preferred semi-final foes.

The 23-year-old believes Germany have already seen off "probably the best team" in the competition thanks to their collective spirit but played down his own heroics.

"Yes, I scored and set up another, but it's a team achievement," he said.

"It's the German virtues that have served us very well. We played probably the best team at the tournament and we won - that goes to show what team spirit we have."

Schweinsteiger had promised the German coaching staff "a big performance" before the match, according to Low's assistant Hans-Dieter Flick.

"I trusted in my strengths," said the player. "I knew I was in good shape, and I had the trust of the team and the coaches.

"I know what I'm capable of doing and what I'm ready to do to help the team.

"The team also supported me and so did the coaches."

Germany only clinched their spot in the last eight with Monday's 1-0 win over Austria securing second place in Group B behind Croatia.

"It wasn't easy at the beginning of the European Championships," Schweinsteiger added. "But we always wanted to play for the team."

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