After being held to a frustrating single-goal victory in their final pool game by a staunch Northern Ireland defence, Germany tore into Group B's third-placed team to assert their standing among the favourites for the trophy.
Joachim Low
germany white shirt gambled on Jerome Boateng's fitness
spain white shirt and the Bayern Munich man rewarded him with a first international goal to put Germany into an early lead.
Mesut Ozil
Belgium white shirt had a penalty saved shortly afterwards, but Low's other team selection of note, replacing Mario Gotze with Julian Draxler, also paid dividends when the Wolfsburg man set up Mario Gomez for the second just before half-time.
Draxler was a constant menace on the left flank and got a deserved goal for himself in the second half, allowing Germany to cruise to victory - and keep a fourth clean sheet from as many EURO 2016 games.
It is now either 2008 final opponents Spain, or semi-final vanquishers
Hungary soccer shirt four years ago Italy,
italy white shirt who await this German generation, as they look for continental dominance just two years after conquering the world.
Stade Pierre-Mauroy sits next to Lille University of Science and Techonology. It made a fitting venue for the Germany machine to roar into life.
Slick, solid and at times scintillating, the world champions have
Wales red shirt at last laid a very real claim to the European title after dispatching Slovakia in ruthless fashion.