France and Germany played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in Cologne on Tuesday evening, with the latter thereby extending their unbeaten streak to 21 matches.
The opening goal came 33 minutes in when Anthony Martial went slithering through the German defence.
The Manchester United forward feinted past Nicklas Sule, put Kevin Trapp on his backside and then laid a luscious assist on a silver platter for Alexandre Lacazette to ram into the vacant net…
Timo Werner then hauled Germany back level shortly before the hour, poking a smart Mesut Ozil through-ball under the advancing Steve Mandanda.
The 65th minute also saw a grand return to the international scene for Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning hero Mario Gotze, who came on for Ilkay Gundogan to win his first cap for 12 months.
Great feeling to be back on the pitch for Germany 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/hAILXr2F95
— Mario Götze ⭐️️ (@MarioGoetze) November 15, 2017
Lacazette then restored Les Bleus’ lead in the 74th minute – the Arsenal man capitalising on some questionable ‘blitz’ defending from Antonio Rudiger to slot home from inside the area.
However, substitute Lars Stindl ensured the match ended in parity as late as the 93rd minute when the Monchengladbach forward put the finishing touch to a lovely incisive passing combo between Ozil and Gotze.
And that’s all she wrote. Two goals apiece and everybody went home happy.