Hansi Flick: Draw with Spain the 'spark' Germany needs to ignite World Cup campaign

Fullkrug cancelled out Morata's opener to earn the Germans a vital point in Group E

Germany's Niclas Fullkrug celebrates after scoring in the 1-1 Group E draw against Spain at Al Bayt Stadium on November 27, 2022 in Al Khor, Qatar. Getty

Niclas Fullkrug scores for Germany. Getty

Fullkrug celebrates with the German squad. AFP

Alvaro Morata celebrates scoring to give Spain the lead. PA

Alvaro Morata scores for Spain. Getty

Alvaro Morata after scoring for Spain. Getty

Germany coach Hansi Flick watches the action. EPA

Germany's Thomas Muller controls the ball under pressure from Rodri. Getty

Manuel Neuer of Germany celebrates Antonio Rudiger's header, which was then ruled offside. Getty

Antonio Rudiger scores for Germany, only for VAR to intervene. Getty

Hansi Flick believes Germany's late equaliser to claim a 1-1 draw with Spain on Sunday could be the "spark we need" to ignite their 2022 World Cup campaign.

Substitute Niklas Fullkrug thundered in an 83rd-minute goal to cancel out Spain's lead and earn the four-time world champions their first point from two matches following their shock opening loss to Japan.

The point keeps alive Germany's hopes of advancing to the knockout stage ahead of Thursday's final Group E match against Costa Rica, which they must win.

"We knew what was at stake. Spain played good football but the teams were level and we had a huge chance in the end to win it, but these things happen," Flick told reporters.

"Things come to you when you start winning. Maybe it is the spark we need."

Leroy Sane missed a golden opportunity to give Germany the victory but Flick said he was satisfied with his team's performance.

"The team fought hard and I am very satisfied with their mentality. These are the things we want and we know that we did take the first step," he said. "We want to have the conditions against Costa Rica to reach the knockout phase."

Germany were teetering on the brink of elimination in the group stage for the second World Cup in a row but their draw, combined with Japan's surprise loss to Costa Rica, now moves the Germans into positive territory.

"Costa Rica showed good mentality to come back from a 7-0 loss to Spain [and beat Japan]," Flick said. "Football is like that. Sometimes it's not those with the most chances that win. We experienced that against Japan."

Germany are on one point with Costa Rica and Japan on three. Spain, who next play the Japanese, are on four.

Flick said he would not rush to focus on Costa Rica, knowing that his players needing to process Sunday's game first.

Spain v Germany player ratings

SPAIN PLAYER RATINGS: Unai Simon – 6. Quickly off his line to meet Gnabry after 10. Poor clearance to the same player saw a shot wide on 24. Saved by Rudiger being offside on 38 and saved a shot from the same player on 44. Another terrible pass on 56 set up a Germany attack. Too much power on Fullkrug’s equalising shot for him. Brilliant at the end to push a German attack wide. EPA

Dani Carvajal – 6. Pressed high but limited impact. EPA

Rodri – 6. Usually a holding midfielder, he held the defensive line well – six Germany players were offside at one free-kick. Made a key late interception. Had 118 touches – his German opposite Rudiger had 56. AP

Aymeric Laporte – 6. Adrift when Germany equalised, but otherwise solid against a Germany side who had less possession but better chances. AFP

Jordi Alba – 7. Accurate cross for Morata to put Spain ahead, then he defended a German attack two minutes later. AFP

Gavi – 6. Like his two Barcelona midfield foils, was limited in his time on the ball by Germany’s smart tactics in the first half. Clever to let a ball past him for Asensio to shoot. Won every tackle. AP

Sergio Busquets – 6. Played as the ‘1’ in a 4-1-2-3 formation. His 15th game in his fourth World Cup finals, he was closed down whenever he got the ball – Germany knew stopping him would be a hindrance to Spain. Started the play which led to the opening goal. Booked. AFP

Pedri – 6. Struggled to get time on the ball in the first half. Tried to play Morata in on a night when Spain were brought back down to earth. EPA

Ferran Torres – 5. Set up by Olmo on 24 but took too long to take a shot. Missed a good 33rd minute chance and will perhaps be thankful he was offside. Shot blocked three minutes later, then brought down in a yellow card challenge. Off after 53. EPA

Marco Asensio – 5. Strong run down the left on 46, brought down by Goretska who had to stop him getting past him on 57. Bad, bad miss when he leaned back to shoot on 65. Came off a minute later. AP

Dani Olmo – 7. Fine sixth minute shot well saved as Spain opened up Germany – a 35 pass move which started which started with the goalkeeper. Involved in the opening goal. AFP

SUBS: Alvaro Morata (Torres 53’) – 8. Put Spain ahead nine minutes after coming on. Really smart finish, his 29th goal for Spain, as he got ahead of his marker. Had the desired impact on the game – and that meant Spain are going through to the next round. Getty

Nico Williams (Asensio 65’) – 6. The Athletic Club striker worked hard in an even game. EPA

Koke (Gavi 66’) – 6. Brought experience for Spain in front of the 68,895 crowd. Getty

Alejandro Balde (Alba 82’) – N/A. The teenager walked straight into a German attack which led to their equaliser. AP

GERMANY RATINGS: Manuel Neuer – 6. The Germany skipper managed to get enough of a touch on Olmo’s incredible effort from distance in the opening stages to tip it onto the crossbar, but could do little when Morata found the back of the net. Reuters

Thilo Kehrer – 6. The West Ham centre-back made his World Cup debut and largely stood tall to keep Spain quiet. He was edged out of the game the longer it went on. Booked. AFP

Niklas Sule – 6. Playing more centrally, with Kehrer playing on the wing, the Borussia Dortmund defender was largely equal to what Spain threw at him in the first half. However, he was taken by surprise as Morata cut inside him to put Spain ahead. EPA

Antonio Rudiger – 7. The Real Madrid man thought he’d headed his side into the lead from a Kimmich free-kick, but he saw his goal disallowed for offside. Earlier, he’d tried his traditional shot from distance, but the effort was off-balance and went into the stands. Getty

David Raum – 7. Kept busy managing Torres before the Spaniard’s departure, the RB Leipzig defender also reacted well to Neuer’s poor pass being intercepted, tracking back to make a block and deny Torres a chance at goal. AFP

Joshua Kimmich – 6. While the 27-year-old was forced on the backfoot as Spain dominated possession, Kimmich’s pressing nearly resulted in an opener for the Germans when he dispossessed Simon before he was played in by Gundogan to force the Spanish goalkeeper to push wide. His set pieces were poor. AFP

Leon Goretzka – 7. One of two changes to the German side, he almost made an immediate impact when Gundogan won the ball in his own half, before Goretzka’s neat touch sent the German team on a promising break. In the dying minutes, he put in an excellent challenge to deny Williams a counter-attacking opportunity. Getty

Serge Gnabry – 6. Saw his shot blocked when Goretzka went on a spritely charge forward, though the offside flag was eventually raised. Later in the first half, he couldn’t quite curl his effort on target when he cut inside in the box. EPA

Ilkay Gundogan – 7. Played a more advanced role than he did against Japan and the Manchester City midfielder seemed to find a way of causing problems and winning the ball to spark attacks. Germany would have wanted to see him on the ball more often to help dictate things. Reuters

Jamal Musiala – 7. The Bayern Munich winger was a threat when he got on the ball in Spain’s half, and he created two opportunities for his side in the second half, shooting at Simon for the latter, before setting up the equaliser. Earlier, he timed a block to perfection to deny Torres releasing the trigger in the box in the 36th minute. Getty

Thomas Muller – 5. The 2010 World Cup golden boot winner led the line ahead of Kai Havertz, but was unable to create anything of note before he was taken off. PA

SUBS: Niclas Fullkrug (Muller 70’) – 7. Made an immediate impression when Musiala played a low cross at the near post, which the striker was unable to get on target. More importantly, he found the target when the ball fell to him again, and he fired into the top corner. AFP

Leroy Sane (Gundogan 70’) – 6. Added something fresh to Germany’s side when he came on. He kept pushing even into stoppage time, chasing a long ball and managing to keep it in. AFP

Lukas Klostermann (Kehrer 70’) – 6. Replaced Kehrer at full-back and played his role in Germany winning a point. AP

Jonas Hofmann (Gnarby 85’) – N/A. Late substitution and didn’t have time to get on the ball, but did make two blocks. AFP

Nico Schlotterbeck (Raum 87’) – N/A. A late defensive change, he timed a challenge in the box to perfection in the final minutes of the 90, despite playing Morata onside when the Spainard was through on goal. EPA

"It is still too far away to think about Costa Rica," he said. "We have to let this game sink in and generate self confidence."

Asked whether he had watched Costa Rica's win earlier, Flick said he had not but heard "a small celebration" from his team following the result.

Meanwhile, Spain manager Luis Enrique insisted his side will not take Japan lightly and will play to win despite leading the group.

"There was a strange feeling in the changing room because we had the opportunity to beat Germany and we let it slip through our hands and that was a shame," Luis Enrique told a news conference.

"But we have to think that we are at the top of the so-called 'Group of Death' and we have to stay positive.

"A draw against Japan on Thursday would probably send us through to knockouts but we will not speculate. We will use our full strength and go for the win to secure the top in the group standings."