Joachim Low was full of praise for Robin Gosens' swashbuckling performance as Germany beat reigning champions Portugal 4-2 in Euro 2020 Group F on Saturday.
Cristiano Ronaldo had put Portugal ahead early on with a strike that took him level with Miroslav Klose as the European player to have scored the most combined goals (19) across the World Cup and European Championship.
Low's side stormed back before half-time, however, courtesy of two own goals in the space of four minutes from Ruben Dias – forced by a Gosens cross – and Raphael Guerreiro.
Gosens, who had earlier seen an effort ruled out for offside, then teed up Kai Havertz for a third shortly after the interval before eventually getting in on the act himself, heading home Joshua Kimmich's cross at the back post.
Diogo Jota pulled one back for Fernando Santos' men, but a late comeback failed to materialise as Germany sealed their first win of the tournament in style.
Low marked Gosens out for special praise in his post-match media conference and hopes there is plenty more to come from the 26-year-old.
"I don't know if it was the game of a lifetime for him, maybe he still has to play that," Low said.
"But it was an amazing performance from him. He worked very hard and on top of that he was a constant threat up front as well.
"That is exactly what we needed today."
Germany's first win of the tournament helped them move up to second in Group F, one point behind leaders France.
A draw in their final group game against Hungary on Wednesday should be enough to see them progress to the knockout stages, but Low did not think the victory was a sign of how far Germany can progress in the competition.
"It doesn't have anything to do with initiating something," he said. "It gives you some satisfaction but we never had any doubts after losing to the world champions, we knew we could do better.
"At a tournament you know how it goes, step by step. The next step will be Hungary, which will be hard as they park the bus in defence.
"Overall it was a strong performance against a technically good Portuguese team who were strong on the counter-attack.
"Especially after going behind we showed a great team spirit, we didn't lose control, we were dynamic and energetic and created a lot of opportunities.
"We managed to be a threat to the defence and overall this victory is well deserved."
Portugal, meanwhile, became the first reigning champions in European Championship history to concede four goals in a single match in the competition.
Boss Santos accepted full responsibility for the result and said it is up to him to turn things around for the final group game against France on Wednesday.
"Whether we progress or not is up to us and we have to respond to this," he said.
"The manager is to blame for the result. If we look at individual players it would be shooting ourselves in the foot. Now I have to talk to the players and understand why we couldn't do what we planned to do.
"I am responsible for this, I don't want to mention players by name as we need to solve this as a team and think about France.
"France play differently and we need to change the things we did which were not that good."
Djokovic makes dominant start to Olympic gold medal bid
Novak Djokovic began his latest Olympic gold medal bid with a statement victory over Australia's Matthew Ebden at Roland-Garros.
The 24-time major winner took just 53 minutes to wrap up a comprehensive 6-0 6-1 rout on Court Philippe-Chatrier, to set up a potential second-round clash with Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic won bronze on his Olympic debut in 2008, but missed out on a medal after finishing fourth in 2012 and 2020, while he was beaten in round one in Rio by eventual silver medallist Juan Martin del Potro eight years ago.
However, there was no danger of a repeat of the latter this time around. The Serb took just 24 minutes to wrap up a dominant first set, in which he bageled his helpless opponent.
Ebden remained in positive spirits despite his ordeal. At one stage, he offered his racquet to the crowd, who gave him a wonderful reception when he won his first game of the contest at the 11th attempt.
Nevertheless, it only briefly delayed the inevitable, with Djokovic cruising to the finish line.
Data Debrief: Dominant Djokovic soars into second round
There was no messing around from the 24-time major winner on Saturday, as he was done and dusted in just under an hour at Roland-Garros.
He converted six of his nine break-point opportunities, while winning 14 of 19 net points (74%).
The identity of his second-round opponent is still to be decided, but we could well see a blockbuster clash with Nadal.
Postecoglou hails 'fantastic' youngster Moore after late Vissel Kobe winner
Ange Postecoglou saluted "fantastic" Mikey Moore, after the teenager struck a late winner in Tottenham's J-League World Challenge clash with Vissel Kobe.
The 16-year-old was the hero with his 88th-minute strike sealing a 3-2 victory at the Japan National Stadium in what was Spurs' first match in their preseason tour of the Far East.
Academy graduate Moore became Tottenham's youngest Premier League player when, aged 16 years and 277 days, he made his senior debut against Manchester City in the penultimate game of last season.
And Postecoglou insists the England youth international, who has scored 10 goals in 12 appearances at under-17 level, is deserving of his first-team opportunities.
"Mikey has been fantastic since we brought him in," he told reporters during his post-match press conference. "He's earned his spot on the roster at the moment; he did at the end of last year.
"He got a run with the first team because we could see in training that he was handling himself really well, and that's followed through into pre-season training.
"He's been good in all the games; he probably should have had three tonight, but he did take his goal well by being in the right areas.
"All we can do is keep allowing him to develop. We have to remember that, last year, he had some injuries, and he is only 16.
"I think the future with a lot of our young guys looks pretty promising, but it's our responsibility to make sure they realise their potential and continue to work hard at their game."
Spurs made it three wins from three during preseason, following their 5-1 and 2-0 victories over Hearts and Queens Park Rangers respectively.
"I thought it was a good game," Postecoglou added. "The conditions did make it difficult for both teams, and we've had a hard week of training.
"Credit to the boys. I thought we played some decent football, and they put in as much effort as they humanly could out there.
"You want to provide some sort of entertainment for the supporters who made a great turnout tonight, not just Spurs supporters, but football supporters in general. It's always nice to give back in that way and, overall, I was pleased."
Atletico and Sociedad reach agreement over Le Normand transfer
Atletico Madrid have "reached an agreement" with Real Sociedad over the signing of Robin Le Normand.
The Spain defender, who was part of the side that won Euro 2024, will finalise his move to Atleti "in the coming days" for a fee believed to be in the region of €34.5million.
French-born Le Normand started his career with Brest before spending eight years with Txuri-Urdin, for whom he made 221 senior appearances across all competitions, while winning the 2019-20 Copa del Rey.
The 27-year-old is fresh from international success in Germany, where he played in six of Spain's seven matches, while he also helped La Roja win the Nations League last year.
A statement on Atletico's official website read: "Atletico and Sociedad have reached an agreement for the transfer of Le Normand. The deal will be finalised in the coming days when the player returns from his holiday.
Meanwhile, Sociedad wrote on X: "We'll always remember his dedication and gratitude to the colours that have shaped him into the player he is today. Good luck."
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