Germany still in hunt after win over Serbia

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Jurgen Klopp's team went into its latest contest at Stadion Rajko Mitic with only one win under its belt, coming in the reverse fixture.

Yet with Greece on the end of a 7-0 hammering by Netherlands in the other Group A2 fixture, Germany has hopes of making it to the knockout stage.

It hit the front inside three minutes, and never really looked back.

Maximilian Mittelstadt delivered an out-swinging corner, and Kai Havertz's header was inadvertently turned home by Srdjan Babic.

Florian Wirtz scrambled home to double the lead 11 minutes later, with Germany in complete control for the rest of the first half.

The result was put beyond all doubt in the 50th minute, as Brajan Gruda went on a mazy run before drilling a crisp finish beyond Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.

Babic's effort gave Serbia some hope, and after Joshua Kimmich had a goal disallowed and Derry Scherhant hit the woodwork at the other end, Aleksandar Mitrovic squandered a golden chance when he failed to beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen with a close-range header.

But Serbia's hopes of a comeback were extinguished when substitute Vanja Dragojevic received his marching orders for a late lunge on Kimmich 76 minutes in.

Serbia's misery was compounded in the 89th minute as Andrija Zivkovic saw red for foul and abusive language.

Klopp believes Germany now has a point to prove against Netherlands on Tuesday (AEDT).

"We wanted to set up a final against the Netherlands in Berlin, and now we have it," the Germany coach said.

"We now have the chance to secure qualification for the next round in our own hands. We want to show everyone that German football is in good hands.

"We have good players, we're working hard, and we want to show in these matches that we've learned, that we've come together and that we've developed as a team. And that was definitely evident [against Serbia].

"The atmosphere in the camp is good, but that brings nothing if nobody can see it on the pitch. Our first job is to show the world that we can play football.

"The team put in a truly outstanding performance.

"I think we need to get used to the fact that we're really good and that we can play really good football. We could have scored more goals.

"But I told the players earlier that, at this moment, I really don't care about that. There were so many outstanding moments.

"We made life extremely difficult for Serbia. They're certainly not in their best moment, but you can still get yourself into serious trouble in games like this. But we didn't. The intensity was top-class."