Alan Shearer had a brutal reaction to Germany being eliminated from the World Cup

For millions of football fans around the world, Japan became their second team on Thursday night as they took on Spain.

Japan came back from a goal down to secure a 2-1 shock win, and as Group E took a series of exhilarating turns in the process, they effectively knocked Germany out of the competition.

Germany are, of course, one of the major forces in the global game, and perhaps England’s greatest footballing rivals on the world stage.

Fans across the country have been enjoying seeing them knocked out in the group stage for the second World Cup in a row – and no one less than Alan Shearer.

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

The England legend and pundit out in Qatar had a pretty brutal reaction to the result, sharing a clip of himself laughing hysterically with Gary Lineker and Micah Richards to mark the news.

The clip was taken from the BBC show Match of the Day Top 10, which was recorded before the tournament but seemed to capture the moment pretty well. The moment they are actually laughing at is when Gary Lineker addresses Brazilian legend Carlos Alberto but didn't realise that the great player had passed away in 2016.

His was one of the viral reactions on the night, which saw social media flooded with memes.

It follows another dramatic night in the World Cup, which saw Germany go out despite beating Costa Rica 4-2.

Shearer saw the funny sideGetty

Japan topped the group on six after beating both Spain and Germany. Spain finished second with four points, with Germany missing out on goal difference.

It’s a crushing blow for Germany, who have failed to progress from the group stages of the tournament for a second time since winning in 2014.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.