Nico Schulz scored a late winner as a new-look Germany side snatched a 3-2 win away to the Netherlands in their opening Euro 2020 Group C qualifier on Sunday.
Germany seemed well set for victory after a superb first half produced goals for Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry to give Joachim Löw an unexpected fillip as he seeks to restore the flagging fortunes of the 2014 world champions.
But some of the frailties of the last 12 months returned as they let their grip on the game slip, with Memphis Depay laying on a goal for Matthijs de Ligt and then scoring the equaliser himself in another influential display from the in-form forward.
The wing-back Schulz produced the decisive moment of the match in Amsterdam, though, when he scored in the final minute after a fine build-up down the left to re-establish Germany’s advantage and claim a crucial victory to get their qualifying campaign under way. Germany and the Netherlands have three points each, though the latter have played two matches.
After the Netherlands goalkeeper, Jasper Cillessen, had denied Gnabry at close range, the visitors hit the front as Schulz, who plays for Hoffenheim, provided a low cross from the left from which Sané took a touch and scored with a powerful shot.
A rampant Germany doubled their advantage after 34 minutes as Gnabry twisted his way round Virgil van Dijk before curling a 25-metre shot into the corner of the net, the fifth international goal in six caps for the former Arsenal forward.
The Dutch pulled one back three minutes after half-time as Depay provided an inviting cross for the teenage defender De Ligt to head home his first international goal.
Depay, fresh from two goals and two assists on Thursday against Belarus, levelled the score just past the hour with a low finish into the bottom corner as the visitors failed to clear the loose ball in the box.
It was the second time since November that the Netherlands had come from two goals down to equalise against Germany, and for Depay it was his 11th goal in his last 15 internationals.
But the visitors had the final say as Marco Reus’s pass found an unmarked Schulz in the box and he was able to settle the contest with a low finish that gave Cillessen no chance.