Greece had never beaten Germany. A deflected Kourbelis shot did it on Klopp's home debut

Greece beat Germany for the first time on Sunday, winning 1-0 in Augsburg in the UEFA Nations League. Dimitrios Kourbelis, a substitute on the hour, scored after 74 minutes with a shot that Joshua Kimmich deflected past Alexander Nübel. It was Jürgen Klopp's first home match as Germany head coach, and his first defeat.

The two countries had met ten times since 1960, with seven German wins and three draws. Klopp was appointed after Germany went out of the World Cup in the round of 32. He began with a 1-1 draw against Xavi's Netherlands in Amsterdam on Thursday. Two games in, he is still waiting for a first win.

Germany had the ball, Greece had the chances that counted

Klopp made five changes from Amsterdam. Nübel replaced Marc-André ter Stegen in goal, Nico Schlotterbeck was left out to manage his workload, and Bambasé Conté made his debut. Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Burkardt started on the bench. They had been called up early after Jamal Musiala of Bayern Munich and Kai Havertz of Arsenal left the camp injured.

Greece, in their first League A campaign, dropped deep and waited to break. Germany had 77 per cent of the ball in the first half, according to Opta, without making many clear chances. Karim Adeyemi forced the best save from Konstantinos Tzolakis after 32 minutes. Early in the second half Tzolakis stopped a shot from Conté and turned a Kimmich free kick out of the top corner.

Then Greece grew into the game. On 67 minutes, after a German loss of possession, Vangelis Pavlidis set up Fotis Ioannidis, who had come on with Kourbelis. Ioannidis shot wide with only Nübel to beat.

Seven minutes later Christos Tzolis played the ball in from the left to Kourbelis at the edge of the area. Felix Nmecha did not close him down, Kourbelis shot, and the ball came off Kimmich's foot and into the corner.

Klopp had already sent on Wirtz and Burkardt after 65 minutes. Serge Gnabry came on straight after the goal. Hennes Behrens, an Augsburg player, made his debut in his home stadium in the 84th minute. Yann Aurel Bisseck headed wide from a corner and Gnabry tested Tzolakis from a tight angle, but Germany finished with 16 shots to Greece's eight and no equaliser.

Klopp takes the blame for the changes

Klopp put the defeat on himself.

It's part of the process. The line-up, with all the changes, is on me.

Jürgen Klopp after the match, via DFB.de. Translated from German by ArenaBulletin.

He said it had always been clear that Germany would not pick apart an opponent defending so deep. He could have lived with not winning, he said, but not with losing. The goal was unlucky, but it fitted the chances Greece had created. His team have been together for a week, and against a deep defence they still need the right patterns of play.

Kimmich called it a poor performance, too static and not inventive enough up front. Nübel put it more simply: Germany had plenty of the ball, and Greece had two chances and scored one.

Greece top the group with six points from six, after also winning 2-1 in Serbia on Thursday. The Netherlands have four after beating Serbia 2-1 in Belgrade on Sunday, Germany have one and Serbia none. Germany host Serbia in Munich on Thursday, then travel to Thessaloniki to play Greece again on Sunday 4 October.