While Lukas Podolski was claiming all the headlines with both goals, central-defensive pairing Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder will both have been satisfied in keeping a clean sheet.

But as the Werder Bremen defender admitted on Monday, there is still a lot of work to be done before they can be truly satisfied with their jobs.

"There is still a little bit lacking," he said at a press conference.

"We still have to improve a little, but overall we have dealt with the first game quite well.

"We wanted to be in top condition for Sunday and I think we showed that we are that.

"Keeping a clean sheet is proof that we worked well together at the back."

The Germany team did not return to their base in southern Switzerland until the early hours of Monday morning, and coach Joachim Low gave the players the day off as they arose from bed slightly later than usual.

And Mertesacker admitted sleeping was not very easy after making their debut at the championships.

"Between two and four in the morning, the Swiss and Austrian television channels make it easy for you to watch the game all over again and be self-critical," he added.

"After such a game, it is quite hard to actually get to sleep."

Not according to goalscoring hero Lukas Podolski, though. He admitted he was out like a lamp.

In an interview on the German Football Association website dfb.de, he said: "You are quite a bit excited and agitated after a game like that, but this time I fell asleep quite easily and woke up in a very good mood this morning."

He would have been in an even better mood having read the morning papers to see his name emblazoned all over the world's press.

Yet he took it all in his usual modest manner.

"The important thing is that we have reached our aim as a team," he said.

"Today it was him, and tomorrow somebody else, but the decisive thing is that we are one team and that we win in the end.

"The big aim we have at the moment is to win the European Championships and all personal best marks are not so important."