Loew delighted with performance

Germany coach Joachim Loew has praised the character shown by his side after their 2-1 win over France in a friendly in Paris.

The victory at the Stade De France was the first for a German national team over their neighbours since 1987.

Marseille striker Mathieu Valbuena gave the hosts the lead just before half-time, but strikes from Thomas Mueller and Sami Khedira sealed the win for the visiting Germans.

“This was an important game for the development of my players and for the team as a whole,” Loew said.

“To play here in front of 75,000 fans against a team that has had some great results recently, and to come from behind to do so, was fantastic.

“Both teams played some good stuff, but we wanted to put in a performance and we were the better side over the 90 minutes.”

France coach Didier Deschamps was philosophical in defeat after watching his side lose another friendly at home following their 1-0 defeat to Japan in October.

“Germany had a few leading players missing from their team tonight but they are still a strong side,” he said.

“We were caught out by (Mesut) Oezil, who took up a position between our defence and midfield.

“It wasn’t easy for us against such quality opposition but we stood up to them blow for blow for much of the game.”

Deschamps admitted they conceded too many mistakes against a superior side.

“I think we did some interesting things, especially on the offensive side; we had several chances to score. Then against such an opponent, of course we committed mistakes, like on the first goal, we lost the ball and they’ve got that skill to attack at pace,” he said.

“We tried until the end, we pushed to get the equaliser but sadly we did not get it.”

France face Georgia and then Spain at home in their next two World Cup qualifying matches, while Germany take on Kazakhstan twice.