Confederations Cup Social Diary: Rudiger leads Germany celebrations but absent Ronaldo steals the show

Germany marched into an enticing Confederations Cup decider against Chile thanks to a 4-1 semi-final win over Mexico on Thursday, as Die Mannschaft hogged the social media spotlight.

Joachim Low's young side appeared to be in a relaxed mood heading into the last-four encounter in Sochi and that proved to be the case at Fisht Stadium, where Leon Goretzka's brace and goals from Timo Werner and Amin Younes did the damage.

The fallout from Chile's penalty shoot-out triumph over Portugal was in the spotlight early on, though.

And it remains to be seen what Pep Guardiola has planned for Claudio Bravo, who was unconvincing at club level in 2016-17, but Manchester City are, for now at least, throwing their full support behind his attempt to lift the Confederations Cup following his heroics against Portugal.

Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal, who struck La Roja's first from the spot in Kazan, is likely to prove crucial to Chile's hopes of winning the decider. 

Julian Draxler was up bright and early ahead of Germany's last-four clash with Mexico

And Andre Schurrle, not a part of this squad but with them in spirit, was also in a confident mood as kick-off approached in Sochi.

Grüße aus Frankreich!! Drücke dem DFB-Team (Die Mannschaft) die Daumen für das Halbfinalspiel gegen #Mexiko!! Ihr...

Posted by André Schürrle on Thursday, 29 June 2017

For retired Germany great Lothar Matthaus, the fixture evoked images of his glittering career on the biggest stage of all.

Another player watching from afar was Mats Hummels, who spotted his doppelganger in the form of Mexico defender Oswaldo Alanis.

And they sure do look alike!

It was Germany who duly came out on top at Fisht Stadium, Antonio Rudiger and Shkodran Mustafi leading the celebrations on social media.

Bayern Munich were happy with the outcome, because they are now guaranteed to have a Confederations Cup winner among their ranks come pre-season training.

The last word of the day has to go to a man who has ducked out of Portugal's third-place play-off against Mexico. To be fair, Cristiano Ronaldo has a pretty good excuse.