Brazil vs Germany World Cup 2014: Mats Hummels claims Germany made half-time pledge not to humiliate Brazil in semi-final

Germany wanted to show Brazil respect

Germany made a half-time pledge to try not to humiliate Brazil in Tuesday's extraordinary semi-final.

The Europeans were leading the hosts 5-0 after an unbelievable first 45 minutes and ended the match 7-1 victors in Belo Horizonte.

Defender Mats Hummels maintains that the Germans were determined to stay professional in the second half, even though the result was secure.

"We just made it clear that we had to stay focused and not try to humiliate them," he said.

"We said we had to stay serious and concentrate at half-time. That’s something you don’t have to show on the pitch if you are playing.

"You have to show the opponent respect and it was very important that we did this and didn’t try to show some magic or something like this. It was important we played our game for 90 minutes."

Hummels, is currently an injury concern for Germany and they will be hoping he is available for Sunday's final in Rio de Janeiro.

"After our second goal they got confused. They were not organised on the pitch and after that we didn’t miss a chance until we scored the fifth goal. This doesn’t happen too often. You just have to enjoy it," he added.

"We must keep our feet on the ground, but that’s no problem for us. We know how hard it will be on Sunday. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is on the day. It will be a hard fight and the only chance we have of winning is if we know that from the start.

"We know we are one of the best teams in the world but you always need a bit of luck and for us it was a good day. We must enjoy what happened, but if we lose the final, this semi-final will not be worth anything.

"The game does not have any impact on the final on because it will be a totally different game. It was nice how it went, but it will be no problem keeping our feet on the ground."