Adrion tastes first Germany success

Germany 1-0 Iran
A solitary goal from Änis Ben-Hatira earned ten-man Germany a third-place finish in the Lobanovskiy Cup and secured Rainer Adrion his first victory as coach of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship holders.

Red card
Ben-Hatira struck three minutes from time in Borodyanka, Ukraine, finishing from 15 metres out after being teed up by Thomas Müller. Germany played 46 minutes with ten men following the dismissal of debutant goalkeeper Sven Ulreich for a foul inside the penalty area but, fortunately for Adrion, Iran sent the resulting spot-kick over the crossbar.

Team rotation
Adrion made eleven changes to the team which had lost 3-1 to Turkey less than 24 hours earlier, giving Ulreich and Roman Neustädter their U21 bows, yet Germany were quickly into their stride with Lewis Holtby having an early effort saved. Adrion's side carved out several chances thereafter but found themselves a man down just before the break when Ulreich was dismissed, Tobias Sippel taking over between the posts. Boosted by their numerical advantage, Iran managed to fashion a number of opportunities themselves in the second half but just as the match seemed set to end goalless, Ben-Hatira finished with his left foot.

'Promising' play
Adrion said: "We showed some promising attacking play today and created chances, that's important. We could take more of those but the determination the team showed in the dressing room at half-time after the penalty makes me happy. We know we have to work a lot of things out still. The players have talked a lot while here in Ukraine and have got to know each other. That was the point of this tournament."