Germany forward Thomas Muller insists that he had no hand in Pepe's sending off during the World Cup clash against Portugal at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador.
Muller, who scored a hat-trick to help Germany crush Portugal 4-0, was involved in a confrontation with Pepe, which resulted in the latter getting a straight red card.
The Portuguese defender had caught Muller with his arm while challenging for the ball. After the German forward reacted and fell to the ground holding his face, Pepe came to him and angrily bumped his head with Muller.
The Bayern Munich man claims that he didn't overact to convince Serbian referee Milorad Mazic to send the Real Madrid defender off.
"I felt Pepe's hit. I can't influence a red card, and I was not playing for a red card," said Muller.
Apart from that incident, Muller was simply brilliant in the game, grabbing the first hat-trick of the 2014 World Cup.
And Muller feels that Germany played extremely well and deserved to win the game.
"When you take the lead after 12 minutes, it obviously helps you on your way. We played extremely well on the counter-attack."
Captain Philipp Lahm echoed Muller's thoughts, saying that he was pleased to see his side come up on top, despite struggling with the weather in Salvador
"The first half was brutal. It was unbelievable -- especially directly in the sun. We scored the goals just at the right time, and what is really important is that everyone, including the attacking three, worked incredibly hard. But our task isn't over yet," said Lahm.
Meanwhile, Germany boss Joachim Low, who was also pleased with the result, lauded Muller's performance in the match.
"Thomas did a great job. He kept the defence busy, opened up gaps and scored three goals -- that's Thomas Muller," said Low.
The 54-year-old boss also praised his defenders, saying that they gave Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal very few chances to score.
"The team was compact, kept the line, did not allow Portugal a lot of chances. Our goal was to attack Ronaldo from the moment he got the ball. Jerome Boateng did a great job," he added.
"Mats Hummels offers a weapon in our attack because he runs into the ball. That goal also came at a great time. A 1-0 lead always is risky -- the opponent still has hope."
