Debutant Van Bommel save the Netherlands with a sublime assist against Germany
Xavi Hernández took a point from his first game as Netherlands head coach as his side drew 1-1 with Germany in the Nations League. Jürgen Klopp was also on the touchline for the first time as head coach. Felix Nmecha looked to have won it for the visitors with his first-half goal, only for Cody Gakpo to make it 1-1 deep into stoppage time after a brilliant assist from debutant Ruben van Bommel.
At the Johan Cruijff ArenA, Xavi chose Quinten Timber ahead of Joey Veerman. Klopp made seven changes from the last World Cup match for Germany and handed Philipp Treu his debut in the starting XI, while Jamal Musiala pulled out shortly before kick-off and Nadiem Amiri came in.
Germany started on the front foot and Virgil van Dijk had to step in early to stop Karim Adeyemi getting a chance away. The Netherlands then settled into the game and threatened for the first time through Summerville and Timber, although neither effort seriously troubled the German goal.
After 12 minutes, the Netherlands thought they were ahead. Van Dijk headed in from a corner, but the VAR sent referee Alejandro Hernández to the screen after Brobbey was judged to have impeded goalkeeper Ter Stegen. The goal was ruled out and it stayed 0-0.
Midway through the first half, Timber and Jan Paul van Hecke both went into the book, before Germany were dealt an injury blow. Kai Havertz went off after half an hour following a knock to the knee by Timber and Younes Ebnoutalib replaced him, testing Verbruggen at his near post soon after coming on.
Then the Netherlands suffered an injury problem of their own. Brobbey went down with a muscle injury and, with the striker still on the pitch, Germany struck in the 32nd minute as Nmecha found space in the penalty area and fired in for 0-1. Brobbey could not continue and Mexx Meerdink came on, making his debut for the Netherlands national team.
Before the break, the Netherlands got away with one when Adeyemi blazed over in front of an empty goal. Summerville then had a decent chance to equalise from a Denzel Dumfries cross, but his header lacked power, before Ter Stegen denied both Gakpo and Micky van de Ven.
After the restart, the Netherlands pinned Germany back and Xavi sent on Joey Veerman for Timber. Their pressure kept building. Ter Stegen denied Dumfries after a neat move involving Meerdink, then the debutant went close twice himself: first he slid in and just failed to connect with a low Dumfries cross, then he struck the post via Ter Stegen from a difficult angle.
Late on, Ruben van Bommel made his debut for the Netherlands national team and PSV team-mate Guus Til also came on. Germany still seemed set to hold on until Van Bommel took over in the 92nd minute. The PSV player robbed Serge Gnabry and bent a magnificent cross with the outside of his right foot towards Gakpo, who guided it in from mid-air for 1-1.
Til still had a huge headed chance to win it but sent it wide. So the Netherlands rescued a draw at the death, and the first international match for Xavi and Klopp as head coaches finished level.
