Germany ease past nine-man Serbia to keep Nations League play-off hopes alive

Germany strengthened their bid to reach the UEFA Nations League play-offs with a 3-1 victory over Serbia in Belgrade, while the hosts suffered a fifth straight defeat and face relegation from League A.

The visitors took control inside three minutes when Kai Havertz flicked on Maximilian Mittelstadt’s corner. The ball struck Srdjan Babic and deflected into the Serbia goal for an own goal.

Germany doubled their lead 10 minutes later. Vanja Milinkovic-Savic kept out Havertz’s first attempt, but Florian Wirtz reacted first to the rebound, lifting the ball over the goalkeeper before forcing it over the line.

Serbia prevented further damage before half-time, but Germany restored their two-goal advantage soon after the restart through debutant Brajan Gruda.

The forward carried the ball from his own half, beat his opponent and finished the move with a left-footed strike into the bottom corner.

Babic reduced the deficit six minutes later, making amends for his own goal by scoring from close range. Marc-Andre ter Stegen had parried Stefan Gudelj’s header, leaving the Serbia defender with the chance to finish.

Serbia briefly threatened to punish Germany, with substitute Aleksandar Mitrovic testing ter Stegen shortly after being introduced.

But the hosts’ hopes of recovering were badly damaged when Vanja Dragojevic was shown a straight red card following a VAR review for a dangerous challenge on Joshua Kimmich.

Andrija Zivkovic was then dismissed for dissent, leaving Serbia to play the remainder of the match with nine men. Germany managed the closing stages effectively to secure a significant win.

The result keeps Germany’s hopes of reaching the play-offs alive. Jurgen Klopp’s side now turn their attention to Monday’s meeting with the Netherlands, knowing victory could be enough to secure progression.

Serbia will compete in League B in the next Nations League campaign.

Klopp praised Germany’s display but said the team still had areas to improve.

“The team put in a fantastic performance. We need to get used to the fact that we can be really good,” he said.

“Our patterns of play looked excellent, we dominated possession and the intensity was top class. The aim was to put in a convincing performance, and that’s exactly what we did.”