Germany had a point to prove going into Sunday night's Euro 2020 qualifier against Netherlands, after Joachim Low completely revamped his squad. He sacked Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng from international duty in favour of a younger squad, within which 10 players hold five caps or less.
However, it looked as though the Germans had put their shambolic 2018 World Cup performance behind them as they took the lead in Amsterdam after 15 minutes with Leroy Sane.
He took advantage of Schulz's pace down the left-wing, as well as some poor Dutch attempts to clear, and slotted it past Cillessen.
The Dutch contingent did well not to let the first goal phase them but they were largely unable to upset the Germans' flow as Goretzka was almost through on goal, had it not been for the linesman's offside flag.
That's not to say that the home side weren't able to create chances of their own. Manuel Neuer was on form, unsurprisingly, as he denied Babel the Netherlands' clearest chance of the first-half. He coolly punched the Dutchman's effort away to keep the clean sheet.
It wasn't long however before the Dutch were back under pressure as Serge Gnabry pulled the defence apart by cutting in from the left flank before releasing an absolutely stunning inch perfect shot which Cillessen had no chance of saving - not many keepers would have.
The Dutch now had somewhat of a mountain to climb after just 35 minutes, and seemed to struggle with the Germans in dominant possession. The home side will have welcomed the break for half-time as an opportunity to reconsider and regroup.
The Germans will have wanted to continue their first-half form into the second in order to really silence any critics that doubted them in the run up to these Euro 2020 Qualifiers.
The Dutch made the most of the break as they immediately put the Germans under pressure by scoring a goal to take it to 1-2. Whatever Koeman said at half-time really was game-changing and the Dutch pressed on in search of an equaliser.
It would be harsh to say that the Germans collapsed but they certainly didn't sustain the same level of skill or possession as they did in the first half and the Dutch made them pay for it.
Georginio Wijnaldum was inches away from an equaliser but for a point-blank Neuer stop and an offside decision, but that didn't matter because less than a minute later, Memphis Depay the ex-United man, turned and released his shot which slid past Neuer on the inside of the left post.
With over 25 minutes left the play, it was anyone's game.
The Netherlands continued their efforts for the comeback and started to chip away at a German side who looked uninspired and lacked creativity. The remainder of the half saw neither side able to create a decisive chance, until the dying moments of the match.
The Dutch might have thought they'd done enough with the equaliser and seemed to sit back and relax in defence. A fatal error, with Schulz in the box who didn't need to be asked twice to steal the victory with a ball past a scrambling Jasper Cillessen.
Just two minutes later and the referee blew his whistle to indicate the close of play. Joachim Low could breathe a sigh of relief after his side escaped trouble in front of a revived Dutch side in the second-half.
Despite conceding late on to lose the three points, Netherlands should take confidence in their efforts to produce a come back from 0-2 down to draw level.
The Dutch are next in action against England in the Nations League on June 6th, while Germany will travel to Belarus on June 8th for their second Euro 2020 Group C qualifier.