Germany beat Italy 4-1 in friendly

World champions Germany reaped a 4-1 win over Italy for the first time in over 20 years at Allianz Arena in Munich on Tuesday.

The goals from Toni Kroos, Mario Goetze, Jonas Hector and Mesut Oezil sealed the deal within 75 minutes before Stephan El Shaarawy marked the consolation for Italy in the dying minutes of the match.

Germany staged a slow start against deep defending Italy. It took 24 minutes before the hosts were able to break the deadlock as Thomas Mueller' s deflected-cross found Kroos, who slotted home from the edge of the box into the bottom right corner.

The opener gave the Germans momentum as Mueller and Julian Draxler tested Italy' s veteran custodian Gianluigi Buffon, before Goetze' s header into the back of the net made it 2-0 on the scoreboards, seconds before the break.

After the restart, Italy were still unable to gain a foothold into the game while the hosts started where they left off, as Hector completed a combination via Draxler to score his first ever goal for the "Nationalelf" in the 59th minute.

Italy threatened Germany' s defence for the first time in the 68th minute but Simone Zaza missed the target from a promising position. Nevertheless, goals were scored at the other end of the pitch after Buffon brought down Sebastian Rudy inside the box, allowing Oezil to make the game safe from the penalty spot in the 75th minute.

Italy' s substitute Shaarawy scored the consolation in the 83rd minute but that did not spoil Germany' s second highest victory over the Squadra Azzura, just ahead of the EURO 2016 in France.

"We have not won for years against Italy but my team staged a good performance today," Germany head coach Joachim Loew said.

"We faced the best team in the world. It was an important game in terms of evaluating our team. There is a gap we need to close," Italy head coach Antonio Conte said. Endit