Germany lead Argentina 1-0 at half-time

Germany had an early goal from Thomas Mueller to thank for their 1-0 lead over Argentina at half-time of Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final.

Striker Miroslav Klose, winning his 100th cap for Germany, was lucky not to receive a yellow card in the opening minute, when he fouled Argentina captain Javier Mascherano, but the Germans were soon in front.

They took the lead after just three minutes when Lukas Podolski earned a free-kick that Bastian Schweinsteiger curled in for Mueller to head home his fourth goal of the tournament, the ball deflecting in off goalkeeper Sergio Romero’s leg.

Argentina right-back Nicolas Otamendi earned the first yellow card of the game on 11 minutes for a foul on Germany centre-back Arne Friedrich.

The South Americans’ first sight of goal came when Lionel Messi slid a pass through the German defence to Carlos Tevez, but goalkeeper Manuel Neuer raced from his line to deal with the threat.

Moments later, Klose should have made it 2-0 when he fired a pass from Mueller over the bar.

Argentina’s first shot on target came with half an hour gone as Benfica’s Angel Di Maria fired straight at Neuer.

Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain forced Neuer into a save, while Mueller picked up a yellow card for handling the ball that will rule him out of the semi-final if Germany get there.

Argentina had a goal disallowed with half-time approaching after the linesman spotted four Argentinians offside.