Despite Germany's 7-1 demolition of Brazil now nearly three years ago, that hasn't stopped Toni Kroos from using the New Year as a way of poking fun.

Kroos used Twitter to wish his 4.36million followers a 'Happy 2017' but a closer look revealed the real intention of his message.

Cunningly he replaced '1' and '7' with the flags of Brazil and Germany to bring back memories of the World Cup semi-final in Belo Horizonte.

Toni Kroos tweeted his 4.36million followers on Twitter with his New Year's message

Kroos decided to replace the '1' and '7' in 2017 with the flags of Brazil and Germany

To further spice things up he used the Portuguese word 'feliz', meaning 'happy'.

The tweet has since been retweeted more than 165,000 times with many not taking kindly to the Real Madrid midfielder's message.

Kroos, who scored twice in the semi-final win, reacted in a second tweet: 'A lot of attention for a little joke. Wish you all a safe and happy new year.'

Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup semi-finals in 2014 in Belo Horizonte

He followed up his initial tweet with another in an attempt to smooth things over

Real team-mate Marcelo, who played the full match against Germany as the home nation crashed out of the World Cup, also used Twitter to wish his followers his best wishes for the new year.

He also rather fittingly called for 'respect to others always'.

It's probably a message he'll reiterate when he and Kroos next meet up after the winter break in Spain.

Kroos scored twice in the semi-final before Germany went on to win the World Cup