Gundogan double rescues Germany in Estonia after Can sees red
Germany claimed a 3-0 win away to lowly Estonia Euro 2020 qualifier on Sunday.
TALLINN (AFP) - Ilkay Gundogan scored two second-half goals to help 10-man Germany claim a 3-0 win away to lowly Estonia in Sunday s Euro 2020 qualifier despite the early dismissal of Emre Can.
Germany won 8-0 when the sides met in Mainz last June, but the visitors got into trouble when Can was sent off after just 14 minutes in Tallinn for a foul as the last man.
After a goalless first half, Manchester City midfielder Gundogan struck twice before replacement striker Timo Werner added a third to keep Germany on course to qualify for next year s finals.
"After a quarter of an hour we were down to 10 men, so everything was more difficult and we had to adjust," said Germany captain Manuel Neuer.
"I don t think it was a bad performance. It was a question of time before the goals came and at some point we cracked them."
The Germans stay second in the table but moved level on 15 points with Group C leaders the Netherlands, who beat Belarus 2-1 in Minsk earlier in the day.
Wins next month for Joachim Loew s side against Belarus in Moenchengladbach and Northern Ireland in Frankfurt will ensure Germany a place at Euro 2020.
Both Can and Gundogan, who both have Turkish roots, caused a stir before kick-off after they both deleted Instagram likes of a photograph showing Turkey footballers performing a military salute, a gesture seen as supporting their country s military offensive in Syria.
Both UEFA and the German Football Association have said they will look into the incident.
Germany were dealt a blow before kick-off when in-form winger Serge Gnabry, who scored in Wednesday s 2-2 friendly draw with Argentina in Dortmund, was pulled from the starting line-up with a leg injury.
Can then quickly added to Loew s woes against the group s bottom side with the earliest red card ever shown to a Germany international.
Playing out of position at centre-back, the Juventus midfielder was sent off for lunging into a tackle, as the last man, on Estonia forward Frank Liivak.
It was the first straight red card of Can s career.
Nevertheless, Germany had the best first-half chance when Marco Reus curled his free-kick over the wall but against the woodwork.
Gundogan broke the deadlock early in the second half when his shot clipped Reus s boot and beat the Estonia goalkeeper from 20 metres out.
Six minutes later, after an exchange of passes between Reus and winger Julian Brandt, Gundogan s shot on the edge of the area again took a deflection to make it 2-0.
Werner, on for Freiburg striker Luca Waldschmidt, made it 3-0 on 71 minutes when a Gundogan pass picked out the RB Leipzig striker, who fired home across the goal.
