Tearful Brazil captain David Luiz apologised to his compatriots after the hosts suffered a humiliating 7-1 World Cup semi-final defeat by Germany.<\/p>\n
The five-time winners were thrashed by a German side who were 5-0 up in the first 29 minutes.<\/p>\n
“They were better than us,” said Luiz, who captained Brazil in the absence of Thiago Silva. “It’s a very sad day but it’s also a day from which to learn.<\/p>\n
“Apologies to all the Brazilian people. I just wanted to see my people smile.”<\/p>\n
Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar described his team’s collapse as a “blackout” and the defeat as “inexplicable”.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old, who is on loan at Toronto from QPR, said: “It was beautiful up to here.<\/p>\n
“I thank the Brazilian people, and the fans are to be congratulated for all the support they gave us.<\/p>\n
“The players are going to apologise, but Germany were strong, and we have to acknowledge that.”<\/p>\n
Luiz, who moved from Chelsea to Paris St-Germain in a transfer reportedly worth \u00a340m earlier this summer, was to blame for the vital first goal, when he failed to track Thomas Muller before the German scored from a corner.<\/p>\n
BBC Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen, a three-time European Cup winner with Liverpool, described Luiz’s performance as “one of the worst I have ever seen”.<\/p>\n
However, Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari took responsibility for the defeat.<\/p>\n
“I will be remembered as the coach to lose 7-1 but I knew that risk when I took the job,” said Scolari, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002.<\/p>\n
“The person who decided the line-up, the tactics, was me. It was my choice.”<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tearful Brazil captain David Luiz apologised to his compatriots after the hosts suffered a humiliating 7-1 World Cup semi-final defeat by Germany. The five-time winners were thrashed by a German side who were 5-0 up in the first 29 minutes. “They were better than us,” said Luiz, who captained Brazil in the absence of Thiago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":30644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[115,122,29,3,771,1616],"yoast_head":"\n