San Marino officials have demanded an apology from Thomas Muller, after the Germany forward made disparaging remarks about the team following an 8-0 win on Friday.

Muller said that playing a “team of amateurs” in the World Cup qualifier put German players at risk of injury, and Bayern Munich chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, a longstanding critic of the volume of international matches being played, said “San Marino has nothing to do with professional football”.

San Marino Olympic Committee spokesman Alan Gasperoni offered 10 reasons for the game to be played and told Muller that Germany “does not own the game”.

San Marino Secretary of State for Tourism and Sport, Teodoro Lonfernini, called for a formal apology from the Bayern Munich forward.

“Germany are world champions, but they are not the master of the world,” said Lonfernini.

Muller said after the 8-0 win that while “it’s a highlight for San Marino to play the world champions”, the game should not have been played.

“It served to show that even against lowly teams like ours you cannot score a goal and don’t say you were not frustrated when [goalkeeper Aldo] Simoncini denied you,” Gasperoni said in the letter posted on Facebook.

“It also served to show that football belongs to everyone who loves it and we are part of that, whether you like it or not.”

San Marino are ranked 201st in the Fifa rankings, while Germany are second.