Brazil were without injured talisman Neymar and skipper Thiago Silva and stand-in captain David Luiz apologised to the country.
“I just wanted to make my people happy,” said Luiz.”Unfortunately we couldn’t. I’m sorry, I’m sorry to all Brazilians, I just wanted to see them smile. They were the best, they prepared better, they played better, we let in four goals in six minutes. It is a very sad day and we’ll learn from it.”
Joachim Low claimed Brazil “cracked up” under the pressure, saying: “That the result would be so emphatic was not to be expected. Scoring three in four minutes the hosts were in shock, confused and never returned to their original organisation.
“We were extremely cool and realised they were cracking up and we took advantage of that.
“We’ve won this match. We’re in the final of the World Cup, against a different opponent. We were lucky that the hosts were shellshocked. Now we must prepare well for the final.
“Let’s put it into context: the hosts were unable to deal with the pressure. I remember once losing to Italy in Germany when everyone wanted us to go to the final. We lost in the 119th minute back in 2006, so we knew how Scolari feels, how the Brazilian team feel and the people in Brazil feel right now.
“Let’s not over-rate the result, even if it has never been so high before.”
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