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World Cup whupping: Football stars wax lyrical after Germany tear strips off Brazilians to leave hosts raw

Manchester United players past and present joined millions of other around the world in tweeting about Brazil’s demolition at the hands of Germany last night.

The 7-1 thrashing was the biggest margin of victory in any semi-final in World Cup history and Brazil’s first competitive home defeat in 39 years.

It was not the only record that was broken on the night either, as it became most-discussed single sports event on Twitter, racking up 35.6 million tweets.

Hopes were high that Brazil could reach the final after displaying an enormous passion as they blurted out the national anthem in front of an electric Estadio Mineirao crowd.

The first semi-final of the 2014 tournament had been expected to be close, but Germany demolished the Neymar-less hosts – in the blizzard of social media reaction, Mancunians were not shy in making their feelings known.

Former United defender Rio Ferdinand, who was working as a pundit in Brazil for the BBC, had predicted a German victory, but what happened on the night was a shock even to him.

Brazilian supporters’ cheers quickly turned to jeers after one of the craziest five minutes in football history piled on the misery following Thomas Muller’s early opener.

In a period that Brazil boss Felipe Scolari called a ‘blackout’, Miroslav Klose tapped in a second, surpassing the original Ronaldo as the World Cup’s top scorer of all-time, which was then followed by a quick-fire brace from Toni Kroos and then capped off by a rare Sami Khedira goal.

With four goals in just 400 seconds, Brazil’s hopes of winning a record sixth World Cup were decimated.

Former Real Madrid and Manchester United striker Michael Owen was similarly dismayed by the result.

But Wayne Rooney and Patrick Vieira decided to wax lyrical to the rampant German display after they tore strips off the Brazilians.

Joleon Lescott, who was prone to the odd defensive lapse in his Manchester City career, took the opportunity to poke fun at the diabolical defending on display from the Brazilians.

Despite the selection of Manchester City’s Fernandinho to – at least in theory – stabilise the midfield and shield the defence, Brazil were torn apart.

As well as Neymar, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side were also missing captain Thiago Silva and their defence lost the plot without him.

A brace from Chelsea striker Andre Schürrle poured salt in the already gaping wounds, leaving the Brazilians in the stadium and spectators all over the world in utter disbelief.

Before kick-off, some nailed their colours to the mast. The bell was tolling for @InMCR by the end of the evening:

Others took the opportunity to stick a knife into the back of ex-Red Devils boss David Moyes, other again.

Brazil’s stand-in captain David Luiz, who recently moved from Chelsea to PSG for around £40m, took much of the slack for Brazil’s shambolic defensive performance.

Still, there was financial gain for some…

And, in a rare instance in this World Cup, it was difficult to argue that ungainly striker Fred was the worst player in the Brazilian team.

Some were disappointed that Germany didn’t inflict even more damage and compared the performance to Manchester United’s 9-0 rout of Ipswich almost two decades ago. If only Joachim Löw had Andy Cole up his sleeve:

Others appealed for an end to the slaughter.

Image courtesy of Ben Tavener with thanks

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