GERMANY'S tabloid press yesterday called their team's dramatic penalty shoot out victory over England in the Euro `96 semi finals historic, but added that any other result would have been a travesty of justice.

The Cologne daily Express simply ran the English headline "Yes!" on its front page and Germany's biggest selling paper, Bild, struck a similar note with the headline "Jaaaa!"

Bild's sports page headline "Battle of Wembley - A Historic Victory" appeared to allude to the martial anti German tone struck up by British tabloids in the run up to the match.

But any resentment was forgotten amid the feeling that Wembley Stadium, where England won the 1966 World Cup final with the help of a goal which Germans still believe did not cross the goal line, had at last become "hallowed ground" for Germany.

The sports writers made clear they would have felt robbed again if Germany had not won the match, because Hungarian referee Sandor, Puhl disallowed what would have been a decisive extra time goal by Germany's Stefan Kuntz for a foul.

"Just like 30 years ago. This time it was a German goal, and the ball was in the net ... But it didn't count. And that's a scandal!" Bild railed.

Express took a similar line. "Just like 30 years ago there was a whiff of a fix," it said.

"But who cares?" the paper added, dwelling on a thrilling end to end match decided by the thinnest of margins in a heart stopping penalty shoot out.