Germany made a perfect start to their World Cup campaign as three goals from Thomas Muller saw them ease to a 4-0 victory over 10-man Portugal in their opening match in Group G.
The match started brightly, and Germany might have felt some frustration at failing to take a lead when Sami Khedira, receiving a poor clearance from Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio, missed the target with the goalmouth gaping.
Joachim Low’s men had little cause to dwell on the miss, however, as moments later Joao Pereira pulled down Mario Gotze in the area, and Bayern Munich teammate Muller stepped up to convert the penalty.
The Germans were two ahead with a little over half an hour played: After Gotze had seen his shot deflected wide, Mats Hummels rose high to power the ensuing Toni Kroos corner into the back of the net.
Portugal’s hopes of salvaging a result receded further in the minutes that followed when Pepe was dismissed for violent conduct, having thrown an arm at Muller before stooping to clash heads with his opponent. Germany then tightened their grip when Muller took advantage of a Bruno Alves error in defence to make it 3-0 just before the break.
The 10 men of Portugal struggled to muster a response in the second half as Cristiano Ronaldo, whose fitness had been cause for concern in the build-up to the game, was forced to play the full 90 minutes, with injuries to Hugo Almeida and Fabio Coentrao leading Paulo Bento to use all three substitutes by the 65th minute.
With a little over 15 minutes to play, Portugal saw a penalty appeal turned down when Eder went down in the area, and all hope was extinguished soon afterwards as Muller was able to complete his hat trick with a simple finish after Andre Schurrle’s effort was parried into his path.
Portugal face a real test now in a strong group with USA and Ghana, where goal difference is likely to prove crucial, and to make matters worse lost another key defender, Fabio Coentrao, to a nasty-looking injury.
Strangely, Portugal had dominated the opening exchanges and Ronaldo inspired the first real chance of note as he played in Almeida but the Portugal striker’s effort was weak and easy for Manuel Neuer to claim.
Neuer then came to the rescue again as Ronaldo threatened once more. Miguel Veloso caught Philipp Lahm in possession and with the Portuguese outnumbering the German defence sent Ronaldo racing in on goal but he hammered his shot straight at Neuer from a tight angle.
After that, however, and partly aided by some shocking defending, Germany assumed the early control.
Khedira had already missed a golden opportunity when Portugal keeper Rui Patricio cleared the ball straight to his feet, and though he was 35 yards out the Real Madrid midfielder should have done better with the empty goal beckoning.
That was a let-off for Portugal but Germany were not to be denied.
Joao Pereira pulled back Gotze as he twisted in the box and the Portuguese defender was lucky to be only booked by Serbian referee Milorad Mazic.
Muller did not look for a second as though he would miss the penalty, and he buried it emphatically to put the Germans ahead with 12 minutes gone.
Nani sent a shot skimming over the crossbar as Portugal tried to respond, but it was Germany who struck again.
Gotze had been denied by a last-ditch block after excellent work by Mesut Ozil but from the corner, taken by Kroos, Hummels crashed home a header despite the attentions of two defenders.
Eder headed over from a corner as Portugal tried desperately to get back into the game but then came Pepe’s moment of self-destruction.
