Spain 1-5 Netherlands: Defending champions humiliated by Robben and co
The Netherlands might have had to wait four years for World Cup revenge over Spain, but boy, it must have tasted sweet as they totally embarrassed La Roja.
On an incredible night in Salvador, Louis van Gaal's side ran riot as Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben both grabbed braces and Stefan de Vrij struck.
Few expected a Dutch victory and, having gone down 1-0 to a dubious penalty that Xabi Alonso fired home, it looked like it would not be their night in Brazil.
But led by the rampaging pair of Van Persie and Robben, the Netherlands notched five unanswered goals to send a statement to the rest of the World Cup.
Things began nervily in Arena Fonte Nova and Wesley Sneijder wasted an early one-on-one before Spain assumed control of the match.
David Silva, Andres Iniesta and Xavi were running rings around the Dutch and eventually the latter picked out Diego Costa with a gorgeous ball.
The Brazil-born forward turned inside De Vrij but then appeared to tread on his trailing foot. He went down however, was awarded a penalty, and Alonso drilled the ball home on 27 minutes.
Rarely do Spain relinquish such a lead and they could have added to it had Silva's lob gone in moments later.
The City midfielder could have squared for Costa to tap in and his decision not to was soon punished by some incredible improvisation from Van Persie.
Daley Blind knocked over a sweeping cross from some distance and the Manchester United striker brilliantly dived to flick a header over Iker Casillas from all of 16 yards out.
Such a moment of genius meant the Dutch came back out for the second half fired up, stunning the Spanish by taking the lead eight minutes after the break through Arjen Robben.
Van Persie picked out his team-mate and the Bayern Munich star twisted Gerard Pique inside-out before smashing the ball home to send Oranje fans crazy.
Spain were rocking and they could have easily gone down to ten men had referee Nicola Rizzoli spotted Costa head-butting Dutch defender Bruno Martins Indi before a corner.
Unsurprisingly, the Atletico Madrid striker was soon hauled off, but La Roja’s night was about to get a whole lot worse.
First of all Van Persie rattled the bar with an incredible volley, which would have definitely made the World Cup best goals highlight reel had it gone in, but soon it was three for the Netherlands when De Vrij stabbed home.
Sneijder’s floated free-kick eluded everyone but the defender, whose header came back off the post and went in off his shin, though Spain were cursing the failure to award a free-kick for a perceived foul on Casillas.
Spain thought they had grabbed a lifeline when Silva tapped home but the City man's celebrations were cut short for offisde. Put simply, it was not going to be La Roja's night.
Casillas' nightmare evening soon plumbed new depths when he inexplicably mis-controlled a backpass, allowing Van Persie to easily rob him and roll the ball into an unguarded net to make it 4-1.
Humiliation was complete and now it was just a question of how many the Dutch felt like scoring, such was the woeful display by Spain's defence.
There remained 18 minutes left and Robben in particular was not done, picking up the ball and tearing past Sergio Ramos before leaving Casillas floundering on the turf and firing home past two defenders on the line.
Spain were forced to suffer one final horrific moment when substitute Fernando Torres failed to score from two yards to well and truly complete the world champions' awful night.
It could have easily been more for the Netherlands as they continued to run riot but five was enough as they sent shockwaves around the World Cup with an incredible second half display.