German skipper Philippe Lahm has warned Argentina to behave when they lose on Saturday.... and told England they are no longer a big scalp.

Four years ago German squeezed past Argentina 4-3 on penalties in the quarter final - a result which sparked a brawl in the centre circle including kicks and punches being thrown and the home side claiming to have been “attacked from nowhere.”

The bitter history between the two rivals will be reignited on Saturday and the German players have already started to wind-up Diego Maradona's men, and can't resist further digs at England

Lahm said yesterday: “We know they are a temperamental lot. It remains to be seen how they will deal with another defeat on Saturday! We have to be cool.

“You have to admit it was not so easy to get through. When it comes to that we showed our worth. But now we have to show we can beat a calibre of Argentina. Now the big five are waiting for us and we want to be able to say we have beaten the, Argentina, Brazil, Spain are bigger opponents than for example England.”

Typically Germany have already booked their hotel, training facilities and flights right to through to the final, showing no sign of self-doubt and they claim to have a tactical plan to keep Lionel Messi quiet.

Team boss Oliver Bierhoff said: “2006 was a hotly contended game. I myself had the fortune to play alongside many Argentines in my career and they are open cordial hospitable people. Just not in the football pitch. On the field they are aggressive and show their provocative side!

“It was not a nasty physical match four years ago, just post match emotions were flying high and no one wanted to lose and go home. It was tragic for them losing. We have to keep our nerve and concentrate on what we want to do. We have to focus on the 90 minutes.”

The Argentines has been left fuming after Bastian Scheinsteiger claimed their antics were “not in the rule book” saying they constantly try to influence referees. Maradona has repeatedly complained that teams are kicking Messi out of the tournament without being punished.

Schweinsteiger is now a marked man for the Argentines and Bierhoff said: “I don’t think his remarks were controversial. He is the last person to put oil on the fire. He is quiet, reserved, soft-spoken man. He is very fair, doesn’t role about, is a fair spokesman and he should be allowed to speak his mind.”

Lahm added: “Bastian said what he said. We know any South American acts impulsively. They hate losing and that goes without saying. We just hope to see them on the pitch and see how they behave after they lose on Saturday.

“All refs have to act according to the book no matter who's on the pitch or which player is concerned. We had problems against Serbvia and Australia ref was card happy.”

Germany striker Cacao has been ruled out of the game, but Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil, who missed training, will be ready. Ozil is being given extra rest to “regenerate.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel is flying in for the match, and Michael Ballack, the injured captain, will address the team before kick off. Lahm said: “You can only stop someone like Messi if you act against such a brilliant guy as a team. He really goes into one on ones as if it was his last. The same goes for Higuian so we have to act collectively.

“We will be playing against one of the top favourites to win the World Cup. Nobody underestimates this rival for a second. There’s no way we can go into the match with inflated egos.”

Bierhoff added: “This is a very young team and didn’t play so many games in qualification. We are surprised and proud. We knew we had a strong side. We had a few players like Ballack and others couldn’t travel to South Africa. But the team got closer and unity and morale is high and team spirit can have fantastic healing effects.”