Mueller rubs salt into English wounds with 66 jibe

Germany’s Thomas Mueller admitted his side had enjoyed a huge slice of luck when England had a goal mistakenly disallowed at a critical stage of his side’s 4-1 World Cup win on Sunday.

But the Bayern Munich midfielder claimed England could scarcely complain having famously benefited from a borderline goalline decision in their 1966 World Cup final win over Germany.

“This is the compensatory justice for Wembley,” Mueller joked after his two-goal, man-of-the-match display.

Television replays showed a Frank Lampard shot that would have levelled the match at 2-2 just before half-time had landed a yard over the line after striking the under side of the bar.

But the goal was not given and Mueller killed England off with two second-half goals at the end of sweeping German counter-attacks.

Germany’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer claimed he did not know the ball had definitely crossed the line until he saw a television replay while providing a sample for doping control after the match.

But he admitted he had been sufficiently worried to make sure he got the ball back into play as quickly as possible.

“I grabbed the ball quickly and threw it back into the game,” he said. “If I had looked to my right or to my left, the referee would have thought it about again.”

Mueller said Germany had made the most of their good fortune.

“We heard afterwards that the ball was clearly behind the line, that is what we were told,” he said.

“That was a bit of luck. We knew we had to seize the oportunity with both hands. We got the stroke of luck and we knew we couldn’t give it away.”

Despite acknowledging the referee’s error, Mueller was convinced Germany would have won the match even if Lampard’s goal had stood.

“I’m struggling to come to terms with it myself,” the 20-year-old said. “It is such a feeling of joy, being part of it and scoring these important goals.

“It is not just me that deserves the praise, the whole team deserves it. Everyone ran their socks off. It was a huge performance.”

Mueller paid tribute to England’s spirit.

“They kept attacking us, even at 4-1 down,” he said. “But everything worked out perfectly for us, especially on the counter attacks.

“Our centrebacks were brilliant. They hardly gave (Wayne) Rooney any space. England were dangerous, particularly with Frank Lampard’s shots but we have some goalkeeper don’t we.”

German coach Joachim Loew accepted that Lampard’s shot should have levelled the match but made it clear he did nto believe the outcome had been affected.

“We put on a magnificent display against a very experienced England side,” he said. “At 2-0 we were in full control of the match and could have scored a third.

“There was a difficult patch when England scored but we had more cohesion in the second half. England had to open up and we had the opportunity to attack.

“At half-time I told them that they had to keep attacking. We needed to score another goal to win the match.

“We are a very young team and I’m very proud of the players for keeping up the pressure on England. I think it was a deserved win. The conviction of the team was very obvious on the pitch.”