Liverpool's Impressive Emre Can Stands Alone as Germany Slip Up Against Serbia

Germany didn’t exactly kick off their campaign for the U21 European Championships with all the flair and domination expected of the competition’s standalone favourites.

Two points dropped and a red card picked up is what will be noted in Horst Hrubesch's notebook following his side’s 1-1 draw with Serbia on Wednesday evening.

On the opening day of the competition it was Denmark rather than Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Co. who jumped to the top of Group A after coming from behind to beat hosts Czech Republic, 2-1.

Despite predictions of a comfortable win for Hrubesch’s side, it was Serbia who initially took the game to Germany. The experienced coach opted to start Moritz Leitner alongside Emre Can in the centre of his midfield rather than the sturdier Johannes Geis, and in turn Serbia found little trouble throwing men forward and troubling their opponent’s back line.

Alas, Southampton prospect Filip Djuricic eventually took full advantage of the trend in the eighth minute when he turned toward the German defence and ran through on goal—via a nutmeg on Wolfsburg central defender Robin Knoche—to tap the opener past the Barcelona star between Germany’s posts.

Hrubesch’s side received a lot of compliments leading up to the competition for the amount of experience and genuine, domestic stars within the U21 side. Yet in their first test, a number of those players looked tired and jaded. This squad is certainly well-regarded, but perhaps many of them are simply exhausted after demanding domestic campaigns.

One of the few bright talking points was Liverpool defender-turned-midfielder Can, who took it upon himself to drag the 2009 champions back into the game with a well-placed goal from outside the box in the 17th minute.

Fans of the Premier League talent will of course be more accustomed to seeing Can playing at the centre of Liverpool’s defence, or indeed at full-back, but from the middle of the park the former Bayern Munich youth player dominated proceedings despite the best efforts of his teammates.

Where Leitner dabbled on the ball and struggled to make an impact, Can thwarted counter-attacks with hard tackles while also countering on the break with late runs into the box.

Hrubesch clearly took note of the predicament at half-time, opting to bring on defensive midfielder Joshua Kimmich for Leitner in the centre of the pitch. The Leipzig youngster’s introduction may have made little sense to a side hoping to go on and score more goals in the second half, but it allowed Can to finally bomb forward without the fear of leaving Germany’s back line exposed again.

This was when Germany began to look the part. Serbia had dominated proceedings in the opening exchanges of the first half, but once the teams came back out for the second 45, it was essentially one-way traffic.

Well, until the red card. Christian Gunter, who had been booked just after half-time for a foul, was shown a second in the 69th minute for diving. Hrubesch, who had just instructed forward Leon Bittencourt to get prepared to come on, had to reshuffle his side just as they had looked certain to score again.

Oddly enough, Germany took the sending-off in good spirits and attacked with all the vigour of an 11-man side, as Amin Younes on the left and Keving Volland on the right continued to terrorise Serbia’s back line alongside Can.

Their best chance came in the 86th minute when Ter Stegen collected the ball from a Serbian free-kick and quickly played in Bittencourt—who did eventually come on—to unleash a Gareth Bale-like sprint down the left wing.

The Hannover forward managed to outrun his opponent before cutting back inside and squaring the ball to Volland, but alas the Hoffenheim striker couldn’t get his shot on goal.

In the end, Germany would have to settle for a point in what will have been a most frustrating 90 minutes of football for Hrubesch and his side. Yet some positives emerged for the competition hopefuls, none more notable at this point than the performance of Liverpool’s young star.