Switzerland 3-4 Germany: Wirtz scores two and creates two in thrilling friendly win

Florian Wirtz scored two wonderful goals and provided two assists as Germany beat Switzerland 4-3 in a thrilling friendly encounter in Basel on Friday.

Switzerland led twice in the first half but were pegged back on both occasions, before Wirtz curled a delightful effort over Gregor Kobel to put Germany ahead in the 61st minute.

Young Boys forward Joel Monteiro hammered beyond Oliver Baumann from distance after stepping off the bench, but that parity was short-lived as another pinpoint finish from Wirtz extended Germany’s winning streak to six matches.

Kobel made a good stop to deny Kai Havertz in the 14th minute, and shortly afterwards, Switzerland went ahead through Dan Ndoye’s near-post finish, which came after a mazy run inside from the left.

Jonathan Tah equalised with a back-post header from Wirtz’s cross, but the Bayer Leverkusen defender was then bullied all too easily for Switzerland’s second goal, as Breel Embolo got ahead of him to connect with Silvan Widmer’s cross.

Things almost got worse for Germany as Fabian Rieder rattled the crossbar, but in the final action of the first half, Serge Gnabry beat Manuel Akanji to Wirtz’s through-ball before dinking a delicate finish over Kobel.

And those same two players combined when Julian Nagelsmann’s side took the lead for the first time, with Wirtz looping a superb strike in off the underside of the crossbar after collecting Gnabry’s short corner from the left.

It looked as though Switzerland might avoid defeat when Monteiro levelled with a rasping effort in the 79th minute, but just six minutes later, Wirtz found the same corner again in composed fashion, following good work from Brighton’s Pascal Gross on the right flank.

Data Debrief: Wirtz saving his best form for Germany

It is fair to say Wirtz’s debut Premier League campaign has not gone entirely to plan, having only provided four goals and two assists in 27 league games for Liverpool.

But he has saved his best form for the international stage recently, achieving the same number of goal involvements (two goals, four assists) in his last two outings for Germany (also two assists against Slovakia in November).

Germany had failed to win any of their previous four meetings with Switzerland (three draws, one defeat), but they were good value for this victory, having outshot their hosts by 22 to seven and won the expected goals (xG) battle by 2.5 to 0.57.