Nadiem Amiri hits winner as England Under-21s slip to defeat in Germany

England Under-21s slipped to a narrow 1-0 defeat against Germany in Wiesbaden as they continued their preparations for this summer’s Euro finals.

A first-half strike from Hoffenheim midfielder Nadiem Amiri was enough to separate the sides, as both nations looked to experiment ahead of June’s competition in Poland.

And while the Germans edged the result, there were plenty of positives to take for Aidy Boothroyd’s side, who created enough chances in the second half to have earned a draw.

But after a fairly even start to the game, it was Germany who found their winner on 22 minutes, following a short spell of pressure.

After collecting a pass from the left, Amiri found himself in space on the edge of the box and fired a low shot through a crowd of players and past an unsighted Jordan Pickford to edge the hosts ahead.

With the hulking figure of Davie Selke proving a menace to the Young Lions’ defence, the warning signs were always there and the Leipzig striker almost had the crowd off their seat again soon after as he thrashed a powerful shot just over the bar following good work from Max Meyer.

England still offered a threat themselves though, with Demarai Gray and debutant Jacob Murphy both offering an outlet on the break and Tammy Abraham putting in a tireless shift through the middle.

The Young Lions made a bright start to the second half, with Gray and Murphy switching flanks and Lewis Baker flashing a powerful shot just over the bar.

But the Germans stormed back and it took a fine block from Pickford to stop Jeremy Toljan’s low cross from picking out Selke before Nathaniel Chalobah cleared the danger.

Chalobah then turned provider, winning the ball in midfield before slipping a pass into Abraham on the edge of the area. The Bristol City man turned quickly to line-up a shot, but a great recovery from Marc-Oliver Kempf saw his effort blocked.

The best chance fell to Jack Stephens, though, when Ben Chilwell’s deep cross was nodded back into the area by Abraham and dropped to the Southampton defender, whose low shot was gathered by sub keeper Marvin Schwabe.

Stephens then found himself in a good position again when he connected with Baker’s free-kick into the area, but could only guide the ball wide under pressure from two German defenders.

Another smart save from Schwabe denied Baker’s thumping shot in the final moments and while it wasn’t to be on this occasion, the Young Lions will have a chance to get back on track quickly, as they head north to face Denmark on Monday evening.

England Under-21s: 1 Jordan Pickford (Sunderland), 2 Mason Holgate (Everton), 3 Ben Chilwell (Leicester City), 4 Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea) (c), 5 Jack Stephens (Southampton), 6 Alfie Mawson (Swansea City), 7 Demarai Gray (Leicester City), 8 Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur), 9 Tammy Abraham (Bristol City, loan from Chelsea), 10 Lewis Baker (Vitesse Arnhem, loan from Chelsea), 11 Jacob Murphy (Norwich City).

Substitutes: 20 Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea) for Gray 58, 18 John Swift (Reading) for Winks 72.

Substitutes not used: 12 Joe Gomez (Liverpool), 13 Angus Gunn (Manchester City), 14 Will Hughes (Derby County), 15 Rob Holding (Arsenal), 16 Kortney Hause (Wolverhampton Wanderers), 17 Solly March (Brighton & Hove Albion), 19 Cauley Woodrow (Burton Albion, loan from Fulham), 21 Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), 22 Sam McQueen (Southampton), 23 Christian Walton (Brighton & Hove Albion).

Head coach: Aidy Boothroyd

Bookings: Lewis Baker

Germany: 12 Julian Pollersbeck (Kaiserslautern), 2 Mitchell Weiser (Hertha Berlin), 3 Yannick Gerhardt (Wolfsburg), 4 Niklas Stark (Hertha Berlin), 5 Matthias Ginter (Borussia Dortmund), 7 Max Meyer (Schalke), 9 Davie Selke (Leipzig), 10 Maximilian Arnold (Wolfsburg) (c), 15 Marc-Oliver Kempf (Freiburg), 18 Nadiem Amiri (Hoffenheim), 21 Gideon Jung (Hamburg).

Substitutes: 13 Jeremy Toljan (1Hoffenheim) for Weiser 39, 1 Marvin Schwabe (Dynamo Dresden) for Pollersbeck 46, 20 Levin Oztunali (Mainz) for Amiri 46, 19 Janik Haberer (Feiburg) for Meyer 68, 17 Maximilian Philipp (SC Freiburg) for Arnold 68, 27 Thilo Kehrer (Schalke) for Selke 86.

Substitutes not used: 16 Kevin Akpoguma (Fortuna Dusseldorf), , 22 Benjamin Henrichs (Bayer Leverkusen), 23 Odisseas Vlachodimos (Panathinaikos), 25 Hany Mukhtar (Brondby).

Head coach: Stefan Kuntz

Goals: Nadiem Amiri

Bookings: Gideon Jung 66, Marc-Oliver Kempf 82

Referee: Roi Reinshreiber (Israel)

Attendance: 9,547