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Southgate pleased with character in win over Germany

Gareth Southgate is confident his England Under-21 players will benefit from having to dig deep to beat fellow European Championship finalists Germany 3-2 in a five-goal thriller on Monday night.

Southgate admits there is still room for improvement. Credit: PA

Nathan Redmond and skipper James Ward-Prowse struck within three minutes of each other at the end of an absorbing contest at the Riverside Stadium to turn defeat into victory and set themselves up perfectly for their summer adventure in the Czech Republic.

However, manager Southgate was as pleased with the lessons they learnt at the hands of a strong German team as he was with the result.

We are really pleased with the comeback, definitely. To go behind twice... We believe we have a group of players that have got character and they showed that.

Sometimes you have to go into those positions to realise what you have got as a group, so that part is pleasing. There are elements of the performance that we weren't pleased with and that we can be better at - and that we will have to be better at.

Germany were a very good side and looked very composed. We weren't as composed as we have been and can be, certainly in the first 25 minutes. Some of our passing was sloppy and we can play at a better level than that, which we showed as the game progressed.

– England under-21 manager Gareth Southgate