Germany kills Ronaldo’s Shine with 4-0 Impressive Win over Portugal
Opeyemi Oladunjoye
Thomas Muller bagged the first hat-trick of the 2014 World Cup as Germany sailed to a comfortable 4-0 win over ten-man Portugal in Group G of the World Cup.
Muller scored a first-half brace as Joachim Low’s side opened the scoreline after just 11 minutes – following referee Milorad Mazic’s decision to award Germany a penalty after Portugal’s Joao Pereira brought down Mario Gotze in the area and Muller converted the resulting spot-kick.
Half an hour later, Toni Kroos’ corner into the Portuguese area was headed by Mats Hummels beyond Rui Patricio to make it 2-0.
The game reached boiling point after Pepe pushed Muller in the face during a tackle. Muller fell to the floor and the Real Madrid defender lowered his head to give the German forward a soft headbutt while the latter was down. The referee immediately showed Pepe a red card.
Just before the break, Germany took full advantage of the extra man after Muller pounced on a poor defensive clearance from Bruno Alves, stroking it past Patricio to add a deserved third goal.
It was a comfortable second half for Die Mannschaft, and Muller secured his hat-trick after tapping in from five yards out in the 79th minute, completing a comfortable win over Paulo Bento’s side.
It meant a hugely disappointing result for world player of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo, who had declared himself fully fit from his knee injury.