The Germans, who lost to Italy at the same stage of the 2006 World Cup in front of a home crowd, said facts and figures did not matter with their young squad starved for success.
"Statistics like the one that we have never beaten the Italians in a tournament do not count for us," said goalkeeping coach Andreas Kopke, who was in goal for their 0-0 goalless draw against Italy in the group stage at Euro 96 that saw Germany advance to the next round.
"We want to rewrite history, a different history," said Kopke.
"Italy have been surprising at this tournament and they fully deserve to be in the last four," said playmaker Mesut Ozil. "There was a lot of negative stuff written about them before the tournament but they have showed how good a team they are."
"But we know who we are and what we can do. We do not look back, just forward. We are not interested in the past. If we play as we know we can then we can beat them," said Ozil.
"They have had the advantage of no one really rating them highly with the match-fixing scandal just like in 2006," said Kopke. "But even without having many top names they have played more offensively."
"We all saw that Buffon is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. It is not easy to beat him but our team is in a position to score against any goalkeeper.
"Pirlo's spot-kick was audacious. With Italy a penalty behind he goes and does that, something a keeper does not expect," he said.
"It shows his mental strength but we are also mentally strong. We are a young team but experienced. I hope it does not come to penalties and we win it before that," said Kopke, who himself saved a spot-kick against Italy in the 1996 match.
