Germany midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz shows off his World Cup tattoo - even though he didn't play a minute in Brazil

The Germany squad member added the World Cup trophy to his existing tattoos but spent all seven matches for Germany sitting on the bench

Kevin Grosskreutz shows off his World Cup tattoo even though he didn't play a minute in Brazil (Instagram/fischkreutz)

Many footballers are seen to have new tattoos after a successful campaign, and they get much more successful than winning the World Cup. But for Germany star Kevin Grosskreutz, he may live to regret having the World Cup tattooed on his back after failing to play a single minute in Brazil.

Germany finally lived up to their reputation to win the World Cup for the first time in 24 years as Mario Götze struck in extra-time to give Joachim Löw’s side their first major tournament success since the manager took the reins of the national team.

But while Götze came off the bench to have a devastating effect, Grosskreutz remained among the substitutes for the final at the Maracana – and indeed for the entire tournament as he did not make a single appearance.

The 26-year-old was part of Löw’s 23-man squad, but sat out all seven of Germany’s matches as they lifted the famous trophy. The Borussia Dortmund star has since revealed a picture on his Instagram account showing the World Cup trophy alongside the 2011/12 Bundesliga trophy and the 2012 DFB-Pokal trophy.

Unlike the World Cup, Grosskreutz was a key figure in Dortmund’s successful campaigns that came before Bayern Munich embarked on their dominance of German football that they are still enjoying today.

The image has been linked with John Terry’s appearance at the 2011/12 Champions League final, when the Chelsea captain lifted the trophy after a tense penalty shootout victory over Bayern despite being suspended for the match at the Allianz Arena.

But at least Terry, the former England captain, had an influential role on the Blues’ run to the final as he started eight of their 13 matches and scored against Napoli in the first knockout round before being sent-off in the 2-2 semi-final draw with Barcelona that saw him suspended for the final.

Grosskruetz has also hit the headlines this season for the wrong reasons, after he was accused of assault following reports that he threw a kebab at a Cologne fan in May on a night out. He was alleged to have thrown “a spicy kebab” at the fan, who claimed it caused his eyes to burn, but the midfielder denies the accusations and said he threw his kebab to the ground while out with Dortmund team-mate Julian Schieber, not at the fan.

“I saw the situation as being offensive and saw my private sphere violated,” Grosskreutz told German newspaper Bild at the time. “Obviously I should have not thrown the kebab like that on the ground in public.”

In the same month, he was also forced to apologise for urinating in a hotel lobby.