The long-awaited international debuts of Jurgen Klopp and Xavi in charge of Germany and Netherlands respectively delivered a dramatic encounter, with the hosts leaving it late to rescue a point.

Germany suffered an early blow before kick-off when Jamal Musiala was forced to withdraw during the warm-up. Given the midfielder's recent injury history, the setback will be a concern for Jurgen Klopp. On the pitch, the visitors spent much of the opening half under pressure.

Netherlands thought they had taken the lead in the 13th minute when Virgil van Dijk headed home from a corner. However, following a VAR review, the goal was ruled out after Brian Brobbey was judged to have impeded goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Germany gradually grew into the contest and then struck in controversial circumstances. With Brian Brobbey sitting on the pitch after appearing to suffer a hamstring problem in the middle of the field, the visitors continued their attack. Felix Nmecha eventually found himself with an open goal and made no mistake to put Germany 1-0 ahead in the 32nd minute.

After the break, Netherlands turned up the pressure and launched wave after wave of attacks. Wout Weghorst — sorry, Merijn Merijnk — released Denzel Dumfries with a clever backheel, before the wing-back was denied from close range by two extraordinary saves from Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

In the 66th minute, Merijnk again came within inches of an equaliser, narrowly failing to get on the end of a dangerous cross from the right.

That was when Xavi rolled the dice, introducing youngster van Bommel. The decision proved decisive. In the second minute of stoppage time, van Bommel won the ball cleanly in midfield, raced down the left flank and produced a superb outside-of-the-foot diagonal pass towards Cody Gakpo.

Netherlands pushed for a dramatic winner, but the comeback ultimately stopped short of victory. In the fifth minute of added time, Thiel met a cross with a header but sent the ball narrowly wide of the far post.

The 1-1 draw gives both Netherlands and Germany one point from their opening match of the new UEFA Nations League campaign. Germany will host Greece on September 27, while Netherlands travel to face Serbia.

UEFA Nations League 2026-27

Netherlands - Germany 1:1 (0:1)
Goals: Nmecha F., 32 (0:1); Gakpo, 92 (1:1)

Netherlands: Verbruggen; Dumfries; van Hecke; van Dijk; van de Ven; Gravenberch R.; Reijnders (Til G., 83); Summerville (van Bommel R., 83); Brobbey (Meerdink, 35); Gakpo; Timber Q. (Veerman J., 57)
Substitution: Meerdink (from 35); Veerman J. (from 57); Til G. (from 83); van Bommel R. (from 83)
Bench: Roefs; Flekken; Geertruida; Hato; Ake; Frimpong J.; Koopmeiners T.; Lang N.
Yellow Cards: Timber Q. 22; van Hecke 24; Dumfries 68; van Dijk 69

Germany: ter Stegen; Treu; Brown; Tah J.; Schlotterbeck N.; Kimmich; Havertz (Ebnoutalib, 30); Nmecha F. (Stach, 64); Amiri N. (Engelhardt, 80); Adeyemi K. (Gnabry, 80); Schade (Führich, 64)
Substitution: Ebnoutalib (from 30); Stach (from 64); Führich (from 64); Engelhardt (from 80); Gnabry (from 80)
Bench: Dahmen F.; Nübel; Rosenfelder Max; Bisseck; Vagnoman; Behrens
Yellow Cards: Amiri N. 68