Jurgen Klopp’s Germany secured a 3-1 win over Serbia on Friday in the UEFA Nations League. Goals from Florian Wirtz and Brajan Gruda helped the team get their second victory. Serbia finished with nine men after two players got red cards. Klopp said, "We probably should have scored more tonight."
Germany struck twice in the first half and once after the break, while Serbia ended the match with nine men, with Vanja Dragojevic and Andrija Zivkovic sent off.
Goals from Florian Wirtz and debutant Brajan Gruda lifted Jurgen Klopp's Germany to a 3-1 win over Serbia on Friday. It was the team's second win in five games with the former Liverpool boss as coach after a slow start to his tenure.
"We probably should have scored more, but there is no reason to be critical tonight," Klopp said.
In driving rain, Germany was ahead after just three minutes when Serbia defender Srdjan Babic turned Germany forward Kai Havertz's header into his own goal.
It was 2-0 soon after when Wirtz flicked a rebound over goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, who had parried a shot from Havertz.
Klopp's experimental squad, with Freiburg winger Derry Scherhant but no place for Barcelona's Karim Adeyemi, added a third when Leipzig's Gruda dribbled through the centre of the Serbian defence to score Germany's third.
Babic cancelled out his earlier own goal by scoring for Serbia on a rebound, but chances of a comeback were ended when Vanja Dragojevic was sent off for a reckless tackle on Joshua Kimmich's ankle. Serbia finished with nine players after a late red card for Andrija Zivkovic after arguing with the referee.
The 50,000-capacity Rajko Mitić Stadium was almost empty because Serbia was supported by only 5,000 accompanied children and teenagers. That's because UEFA was punishing the Serbian football federation for fans' offensive behaviour in the previous rounds.
Serbia vs Germany player ratings:
Serbia: Vanja Milinković-Savić (7.2/10), Kosta Nedeljković (6.2/10), Stefan Gudelj (6.0/10), Nikola Milenković (6.3/10), Srđan Babić (5.0/10), Lazar Samardžić (5.8/10), Stefan Džodić (5.7/10), Sergej Milinković-Savić (6.1/10), Petar Sukačev (5.9/10), Dušan Tadić (6.8/10), Mihajlo Cvetković (5.8/10)
Subs: Andrija Živković (6.5/10), Vanja Dragojević (4.5/10), Vladimir Lučić (6.0/10), Aleksandar Mitrović (6.5/10), Vasilije Kostov (6.0/10)
Germany: Marc-André ter Stegen (8.0/10), Philipp Treu (7.0/10), Malick Thiaw (7.0/10), Jonathan Tah (6.5/10), Maximilian Mittelstädt (8.0/10), Joshua Kimmich (8.0/10), Aleksandar Pavlović (8.0/10), Brajan Gruda (9.0/10), Florian Wirtz (7.0/10), Derry Scherhant (6.2/10), Kai Havertz (7.0/10)
Subs: Ridle Baku (6.2/10), Tom Bischof (6.3/10), Niclas Füllkrug (6.1/10), Felix Nmecha (6.0/10), Said El Mala (6.0/10)