Ukraine and Germany share six-goal thriller

A near-capacity crowd in the stadium that will host the final of Euro 2012 next year watched Ukraine lead 2-0 and 3-1 with goals by Andriy Yarmolenko, Yevhen Konoplianka and Serhiy Nazarenko but Germany refused to be beaten and earned a draw with a Thomas Muller goal after 77 minutes.

Yarmolenko opened the scoring after 28 minutes, tapping in from close range, before Konoplianka doubled the lead eight minutes later.

Germany replied with a Toni Kroos thunderbolt from the edge of the area after 39 minutes but Ukraine went in at half-time with a two-goal cushion when substitute Nazarenko's long-range effort flew into the top corner of the net.

The hosts nearly went further in front shortly after the break when Andriy Shevchenko's curled effort was beaten away by Germany goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler.

Simon Rolfes got on the end of a corner at the far to bring Germany back into the game after 65 minutes and a rampant Germany side then took control.

The 2010 World Cup semi-finalists grabbed a deserved equaliser 13 minutes from time when Muller poked the ball past a defender and fired a shot into the net.

It was an entertaining start for the 68,000-seater stadium which has undergone a drastic and problematic €410 million reconstruction since 2007 and was finally officially unveiled last month after major delays.