Germany’s early exit from the World Cup sent shockwaves through the football world on Wednesday.

The defending champions were dumped out after losing to South Korea, having won just one of their group games.

And nowhere was there more consternation than in Bavaria itself, where the German press were in meltdown in the wake of the national teams’s earliest World Cup exit since 1938.

The front page of Germany’s top tabloid, ‘Bild’, simply said ‘Ohne Worte!’ (‘There are no words’).

The cover featured the same shocked headline the paper used after Germany’s incredible 7-1 semi-final win over Brazil at World Cup 2014.

German football legends were also scathing in their appraisal of the side’s efforts in Russia.

Lothar Matthaus, who captained Germany when they won the World Cup in 1990, said Joachim Low’s men had ‘no leaders, no passion and no spirit’.

Joachim Low, meanwhile, will consider his future asGermany head coach after the defending World Cup champions’ shock group-stage elimination.

It is the first time since 1938 that Germany have failed to progress beyond the first stage of the tournament and national newspaper Bild led the fierce criticism, topping its on the whistle report with the line: ‘This is the biggest disgrace in German World Cup history!’

Former captain Matthaus later added on Twitter: ‘This is a very sad afternoon.’

The reaction on British shores, however, was understandably completely different.

BBC One host Gary Lineker described it as an ‘extraordinary afternoon’.

He said: ‘Germany are out of the World Cup – words that have never been uttered before at the end of a group-stage match.’

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