Germany coach Joachim Loew described his side as “lucky” after Toni Kroos scored deep into stoppage time to revive the defending champions fading World Cup hopes with a dramatic 2-1 win over Sweden.

Marco Reus’ maiden goal at the tournament to equalise Ola Toivonen’s first-half strike in Sochi looked set to give the defending champions a slim chance of progressing to the knockout phase.

Then, despite Germany being down to 10 men after Jerome Boateng’s red card, midfielder Kroos scored from a short free-kick move in the fifth minute of added time to break Swedish hearts.

“The victory was a lucky one in stoppage time and we came from behind,” Loew told German broadcaster ARD.

“In the end, it was deserved because we believed in ourselves and stuck at it. We proved we have good morale in the squad and Sweden actually only had two chances.

“Mistakes like that happen even to Toni Kroos, so I am pleased that he then scored the goal.

“Today we saw far fewer bad passes than we had against Mexico and when we push so much forward, a mistake can always lead to conceding a goal.”