England Under-21s made a triumphant homecoming at the Riverside Stadium, showing their resolve to come from behind twice and secure a thrilling 3-2 win over Germany.
After spending the last week at their base in Czech Republic for this summer’s Euro finals, Gareth Southgate’s depleted squad faced possibly their toughest test since securing qualification last October.
And they came through it against a strong German side featuring no fewer than five players already capped at senior level.
England Under-21s (4-3-3): 1 Jonathan Bond (Watford); 2 Carl Jenkinson (West Ham United, loan from Arsenal), 5 John Stones (Everton), 6 Ben Gibson (Middlesbrough), 3 Luke Garbutt (Everton); 4 Jake Forster-Caskey (Brighton & Hove Albion), 8 James Ward-Prowse (C) (Southampton), 10 Will Hughes (Derby County); 7 Jesse Lingard (Derby County, loan from Manchester United), 9 Danny Ings (Burnley), 11 Nathan Redmond (Norwich City)
Substitutes: 16 Alex Pritchard (Brentford, loan from Leicester City) for Hughes 66, 14 Michael Keane (Burnley) for Gibson 77, 12 Calum Chambers (Arsenal) for Forster-Caskey 86
Substitutes not used: 13 Marcus Bettinelli (Fulham), 15 Liam Moore (Brentford, loan from Leicester City), 17 Cauley Woodrow (Fulham)
Goals: Jesse Lingard 35, Nathan Redmond 79, James Ward-Prowse 82
Head coach: Gareth Southgate
Germany Under-21s (4-4-2): 13 Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona); 14 Julian Korb (Borussia Monchengladbach) 4 Matthias Ginter (Borussia Dortmund), 16 Robin Knoche (Wolfsburg), 3 Christian Gunter (Freiburg); 7 Leonardo Bittencourt (Hannover 96), 11 Emre Can (Liverpool), 10 Moritz Leitner (c) (Stuttgart, loan from Borussia Dortmund) 19 Amin Younes (Kaiserslautern); 20 Max Meyer (Schalke), 17 Philipp Hoffman (Kaiserslautern)
Substitutes: 22 Serge Gnabry (Arsenal) for Bittencourt 46, 24 Joshua Kimmich (Leipzig) for Leitner 46, 2 Nico Schulz (Hertha Berlin) for Meyer 69, 8 Yunus Malli (FSV Mainz) for Younes 77
Substitutes not used: 23 Timo Horn (FC Koln), 25 Loris Karius (FSV Mainz), 5 Willi Orban (Kaiserslautern), 6 Johannes Geis (FSV Mainz), , 13 Jean Zimmer (Kaiserslautern), 21 Felix Klaus (Freiburg)
Goals: Philipp Hoffman 15, 50
Bookings: Moritz Leitner 20
Head coach: Horst Hrubesch
Referee: Davide Massa
Attendance: 30,178
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