Last gasp Karaman seals Turkey stalemate in Germany

Kenan Karaman grabbed a last-gasp equaliser as Turkey fought back from behind three times to rescue a 3-3 draw in an international friendly on Wednesday. 

Stuttgart-born Karaman bundled in a late leveller to condemn Germany to a third draw in three games in a thrilling encounter in front of 300 fans in Cologne. 

With Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos and numerous Bayern Munich stars rested for this round of fixtures, Loew fielded a weakened and relatively inexperienced side in a game overshadowed by Wednesday’s police raids on the German FA headquarters in Frankfurt.

Borussia Moenchengladbach midfielder Florian Neuhaus made his international debut, while Julian Draxler captained the side in the absence of Manuel Neuer. 

The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder led from the front, finding the net from an offside position after just seven minutes. 

The disallowed goal set the tone for a flurry of chances at both ends in the first half, before Draxler eventually broke the deadlock on the stroke of half time. 

Latching onto a pass from Chelsea’s Kai Havertz, the stand-in captain burst into the box and daintily scooped the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper Mert Gunok.

Turkey came out fighting after the break, however, and Ozan Tufan curled in an unstoppable equaliser from the edge of the area just five minutes into the second half. 

Havertz picked up his second assist of the evening as the hosts restored their lead just before the hour mark, the Chelsea midfielder linking up with Emre Can to set up debutant Neuhaus. 

Yet Neuhaus’ dream debut turned sour minutes later, as he was dispossessed in front of goal by Efecan Karaca, who promptly levelled the scores again from close range. With no VAR, German protests that Neuhaus had been fouled fell on deaf ears. 

With nine minutes to go, Luca Waldschmidt thought he had sealed victory when he sent a fizzing shot which slipped through Gunok’s fingers to net his first international goal.

Yet Karaman’s late strike left Germany still searching for a first win in 2020 ahead of upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures against Ukraine and Switzerland.