Jurgen Klopp's home debut falls flat as Germany suffer surprise defeat by Greece - as former captain tears into 'average' team

Jurgen Klopp suffered defeat in his first home match as Germany boss as Greece earned a shock 1-0 victory in their Nations League match.

Dimitrios Kourbelis struck 16 minutes from time in Augsburg to give Greece, who have failed to qualify for the last three World Cups, a famous win.

Kourbelis's deflected effort ensured Greece beat Germany in an international match for the first time.

Klopp is yet to win either of his first two games in charge of Germany after his team were held to a 1-1 draw by the Netherlands on his return to the dugout on Thursday.

The former Liverpool boss took the job after leaving his role as global director of football at the Red Bull group.

'The result isn't great, but it's part of the process, absolutely,' Klopp told ARD.

Jurgen Klopp suffered defeat in his first home match as Germany boss as Greece earned a shock 1-0 victory

Dimitrios Kourbelis scored the winner for Greece, who beat Germany for the first time

'The line-up, the way the team was put together, and all the changes were 100 per cent my responsibility. That was my idea.

'It was clear that we weren’t going to completely tear apart a deep-sitting opponent. I could have easily lived with not winning the game by a big margin, but you can’t lose it.

'The goal was unlucky, but it fits in a way with the situations they had. They were basically just playing long balls. We defended those first balls reasonably well in most situations, but we weren’t as dominant as we could have been given the physical quality of our players.

'We've only been together for a week, we're a newly formed team, so we need routines. Football needs training. Everything was great this week, except for large parts of this game.'

Klopp added: 'There's no reason for me to fall into depression and say: "we're so bad". We're not. But we're also not that good.

'I don't want the players to be judged conclusively: this one can't do this or that. If you want to criticise someone, do it with me.

'Let the new ones develop. The established ones, they're top players in their clubs, they have my support. And feel free to criticise me, but not the boys.

'I was surprised that some people booed. The future is as rosy as we imagine it. We're going at it with everything we've got. We'll continue down the path.'

Klopp defended his players post-match and volunteered to take the criticism for the defeat

Former Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger tore into the team after the defeat, the country's first against the Euro 2004 winners.

'We're no longer a top team,' said Schweinsteiger. 'We're now just an average team.

'We no longer have players who make the difference. Even Greece have Karetsas, Tzolis, Pavlidis - for me those are players who make the difference.

'Hopefully Jürgen Klopp manages to develop a team that can play Klopp football.'

Klopp had warned his side pre-match that they were facing Greece's 'golden generation'.

The Germany boss will have a new squad for their next two Nations League fixtures of the international break.

It followed him calling up 44 players earlier this month, with the former Liverpool boss splitting the group into two to handle the fixtures and give him an opportunity to assess more players.

Germany lie third in their Nations League group on one point, with Greece leading the way on six and the Netherlands lying in second on four.

Klopp will seek a first victory when Germany host Serbia on October 1, before taking on Greece again three days later.