Lukas Podolski struck the winner on his Germany swansong as England went down 1-0 in Gareth Southgate's first match since being installed as permanent manager.

The former Arsenal striker gave an emotional speech ahead of a friendly encounter that had the atmosphere of a testimonial - and Die Mannschaft's skipper for the night capped his big finale with a stunning strike 21 minutes from time in Dortmund.

It was harsh on the Three Lions who were the better side for long spells, with Adam Lallana hitting the post and Dele Alli wasting a gilt-edged chance for Southgate's experimental line-up.

The hosts fielded a youthful team but improved after the break and stole the victory when Podolski blasted home his 49th goal for his country on his 130th appearance. Only Lothar Matthaus (150) and Miroslav Klose (137) are ahead of the 31-year-old Galatasaray player on Germany's all-time list - and he was fittingly saluted by all sections of the crowd when he was substituted late on.

It was a first defeat in five overall for Southgate, but he will take some real positives from this showing as debutant Michael Keane impressed at the back while Alli and Lallana linked up well in a new system.

England will now turn their attention to the World Cup qualifier with Lithuania at Wembley on Sunday.

Many observers were suggesting this was one of the weakest England sides in memory in the pre-match chatter - and yet, what are friendlies for if not to experiment? Blooding Keane made sense given the season he has had with Burnley, though you could argue that John Stones was the perfect fit for the new system too.

It was always going to have its teething issues, but Southgate insisted he wanted to get 'off the island' and enact new ideas. It just depends whether what he has learned is going to benefit England longer term, when it comes to tournament football. Positives in qualifying campaigns and friendlies have proven to be a false dawn in the past, but if Southgate continues to defy reputations it could bode well for him.