Germany 4, Portugal 0: Muller nets hat-trick, Pepe sees red as Germans romp to victory

The German machine got fired up early, and once it did, it trampled all over a helpless Portuguese bystander.

A Thomas Muller hat-trick powered Die Mannschaft to a dominant 4-0 victory in a match that had a little bit of everything inside the Arena Fonte Nova, and now leaves Portugal in serious trouble as they look to advance out of Group G.

Maybe we should have seen this coming:

Muller, who now has eight goals in seven World Cup matches, put the Germans ahead with a penalty in the 11th minute. The Bayern Munich star gladly accepted the spot kick after teammate Mario Gotze was hauled down inside the area by Joao Pereira.

There seemed to be a thrilling match on the cards after the early goal, with Portugal poised to open up and attack while the Germans looked to hit on the counter.

Pepe robbed us of that, and in the process ruined any chance his team had of mounting a comeback by receiving a red card in the 37th minute for an asinine headbutt on Muller, who was at the center of everything today in Salvador.

After that incident, the result was never in question.

Before he was forced to leave the match with an apparent ankle injury that left him unable to put any weight on his right leg, Mats Hummels fired home a bullet header to double the Germans' lead.

Muller added a third in first-half stoppage time, and completed his hat-trick after the interval to cap off a shocking result.

As for FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo? This accurately sums up his dreadful day:

He also berated the match official after Portugal was not awarded a penalty in the second half. It was the perfect representation of what was a horrible day for the Real Madrid superstar, and his team as a whole:

To make things worse for Paulo Bento and company, left-back Fabio Coentrao left the match midway through the second half after seeming to pull either his groin or hamstring when he stretched out to receive a pass.