Germany returned to winning ways after clinching a 2-1 victory over France in an international friendly match played at the Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday evening.

France and England are two of the most proud footballing nations in Europe. They have won a total of six World Cups and five European Championships between them. However, they did not play as hard in Tuesday’s friendly.

Manager Didier Deschamps made six changes from their last game, which was a 2-0 win against Ireland. The star striker Kylian Mbappe was one of those changes.

France was behind by one goal for most of the second half, so Deschamps kept Mbappe on the bench while his team tried to catch up. The manager later said, “We didn’t want to risk him in this game.”

The France coach said that he made changes with the future in mind, like putting Randal Kolo Muani up front even though he “hasn’t played in a while, hasn’t trained, and isn’t in top form right now.”

Rudi Voeller, who took over as Flick’s caretaker coach, is a “unique and rare coach,” said Deschamps. “I’m not happy we lost, but I’m happy for him,” he told reporters.

Right after the game, Germany’s interim coach Voeller called the win a “emotional release.” It was Germany’s first win since March and only their second win since they were eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar.

“What I liked most was that we brought good energy onto the field”, telling the post-match press conference “it’s not just about the result, but the style and manner of the performance”.

Thomas Mueller, a veteran striker for Germany, scored after only four minutes. This was his first start since Qatar.

The 2014 World Cup winner said the win was an “emotional liberation” for his side, but told German TV “it was fun, but we don’t need to overstate it — we still have a long way to go”.

Germany’s first step will be to find a new manager. Interim manager Voeller has said again that he will step down as coach after the game.

Voeller hasn’t coached at any level since 2005. After the game, he said, “Ideally, we’ll have it done before the next international break.” He also said that hiring a German speaker was a top priority.

Voeller said that he had talked to Flick before the game and that he had a lot of good things to say about his predecessor, especially for picking Pascal Gross from Brighton, who made his debut for Germany at the age of 32.

Gross came on in the middle of the first half when the captain, Ilkay Gundogan, got hurt. Voeller said, “He had a great game.”

“It was his idea and a wonderful decision to invite Pascal Gross, who many didn’t know at all.”

Germany qualified for Euro 2024 as hosts, but they won’t play until October, when they play the USA and Mexico on a tour of the US. There will be a new coach in the dugout for those games.