RIO DE JANEIRO: Bloodied, battered and bruised, Bastian Schweinsteiger soldiered on. In the heat of the battle at the Maracana Stadium, Germany needed their midfield general and he obliged.

At the final whistle, he collapsed to the ground, lying there unable to comprehend just what has happened as team-mates from the dugout scurried onto the pitch.

But he hadn’t lost the battle. Instead, the Bayern Munich midfielder had won it.

Mario Goetze’s extra-time winner ended Germany’s 24-year wait for a World Cup title when they beat Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup final and for Schweinsteiger it was a moment to cherish.

In his decade with the national team, the 29-year-old has come close on several occasions but the final frontier proved too much of a hurdle for him and Germany.

A losing semi-finalist in each of the two previous editions, he’d spoken about the character of the current German side on the eve of the match and on Sunday he was the embodiment of that.

Twice he was stretchered off but he came back on both occasions knowing his team needed him.

With fellow midfield lynchpin Sami Khedira pulling a calf muscle in training before the final and Bayern Munich team-mate Toni Kroos failing to exert himself, Schweinsteiger knew he had to be there on the pitch.

But the man he had described as Argentina’s ‘leader of the pack of wolves’ on Saturday, wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

Javier Mascherano’s crunching tackle in the first period of extra-time left him clutching his left ankle before the Barcelona midfielder teamed up with Lucas Biglia to take out his right.

Then, he suffered a gash below his right eye after Sergio Aguero’s flailing elbow caught him in the 110th minute as they duelled for a high ball.

Three minutes later, Goetze got what would prove to be the winner. But the job wasn’t complete yet.

Argentina were now going to come at them more than ever. But Schweinsteiger marshalled the midfield in such a way that a late comeback was never in question.

“It was an unbelievable performance and an unbelievable feeling,” Schweinsteiger said afterwards. “Since 2006 we have always been in the semi-finals, but now we have taken a step up.

“How the boys on the bench have got into it is something I have never experienced before. That gave us so much power, now because of it we have won the World Cup.”

The victory was also meant Germany became the first European team to win the World Cup in the Americas.

And Schweinsteiger, a part of a Bayern side that won the Champions League in 2013, said this time around, he felt little pressure.

“We had no pressure,” he said. “It was not like in the 2013 Champions League final [against Borussia Dortmund]. That was pressure.

“The first 25 minutes of that match were not easy at all, but there was no pressure in this one.

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“We are the first European team to win a World Cup in South America. For me it’s very special, the guys are so happy.”

Schweinsteiger’s performance, along with that of his Bayern team-mate and Germany captain Phillip Lahm, was hailed by coach Joachim Loew afterwards.

“All players gave it all they had,” Loew said. “Schweinsteiger and Lahm were incredible, they probably gave more than ever in their careers.”

They probably had to. Or Germany wouldn’t have felt the joy at the Maracana last night.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2014