World Cup moments: Battle of Nuremberg

In the 23rd minute, Maniche dodged a few lunging Dutch legs in the box before hammering home for the opener. The Portuguese midfielder's strike would end up being enough to secure his country's place in the quarter-finals, but was by no means the talking point of the game. 

Right from the get-go, the cards came flooding in and the referees notebook quickly became inundated with names. In total, Ivanov dished out four red cards and 16 yellow cards - an all-time record for a FIFA tournament. 

With the red cards split two apiece, the four unfortunate culprits to leave the pitch early were; Costina, Khalid Boulahrouz, Deco, and Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who left it until the fifth minute of injury time to get himself expelled. 

Boulahrouz's first yellow was a reckless tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo that saw the future Ballon d'Or winner hobble off after just 34 minutes played. The game started to heat up, tempers flared and the referee began distributing cards like handouts before a lecture.

Deco, one of Portugal's star men, picked up two rapid fire cautions mid-way through the second-half to put his side down to nine men. 

Luiz Felipe Scolari's poster boy Luis Figo went into the book for nutting Mark Van Bommel but was later defended by his manager who said: "Jesus Christ may be able to turn the other cheek but Luis Figo isn't Jesus Christ."

Finally, just before the final whistle, the television cameras captured an iconic World Cup scene when Boulahrouz, Van Bronckhorst and Deco were pictured chatting in the dugout. Sat disgruntled, the commentator dubbed it the "bad boy's corner."

Catch the most hard-hitting moments of the drama below: