Joachim Low pleased with rare Germany clean sheet in Hungary victory

Joachim Low was pleased to see Germany keep a rare clean sheet after his side concluded their preparations for the European Championship with a 2-0 victory over Hungary in Gelsenkirchen.

A first-half own goal from Adam Lang and an effort from Thomas Muller just after the hour mark saw a dominant Germany side cruise to what in the end was a comfortable win at Schalke's Veltins-Arena home on Saturday.

It was only a second clean sheet in 11 matches for Germany, with the other coming against minnows Gibraltar last summer, and it means the world champions head to France for Euro 2016 in slightly better shape following four defeats in their previous six games.

Low, whose side play Ukraine in their first game on June 12, told dfb.de: ``It was important to keep a clean sheet. The win gives us stability and a good feeling for next week.``

Sami Khedira was substituted at half-time but Low said replacing him was ``just a precautionary measure".

Meanwhile, another midfielder, Bastian Schweinsteiger, made his return from injury as a 68th-minute sub and he was pleased to get some minutes under his belt.

``Twenty-five to 30 minutes has done me good,`` said the 31-year-old Manchester United man. ``But 90 minutes is too much for the first game. I am fitter going into the Euros as I was two years ago going into the World Cup.``

Jerome Boateng was pleased with the victory as the Bayern Munich defender said: "We started very well and moved the ball well - maybe (we were) a little too long (on the ball).

"In the second half we had too many turnovers, but overall it was good. I think we can be satisfied."

Hungary will be heading to France for their first major tournament since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico on the back of just a second loss in 12 matches.

Bernd Storck's team were quite defensive on Saturday and tried to limit the space available for Germany's attacking players - a plan the Hungary head coach intends to use again when his side begin their Euro 2016 campaign on June 14.

He said: ``We tried hard to play from the back. Obviously it was tough to play against such a tough opponent. We knew we would be put under pressure.

``We gave our best and gave a good account of ourselves. Our strengths are our defensive compactness. We will do the same against Austria.``