International friendly: Switzerland 5 Germany 3

Germany’s Euro 2012 preparations hit a snag as they lost 5-3 to Switzerland in an entertaining friendly on Saturday.

Bayer Leverkusen forward Eren Derdiyok was the hat-trick hero for the Swiss, with all three goals set up by club team-mate Tranquillo Barnetta.

Stephan Lichtsteiner and Admir Mehmedi struck the other goals for the hosts, who impressed with some enterprising attacking play.

Germany attempted to respond through efforts by Mats Hummels, Andre Schurrle and Marco Reus, but they were always on the back foot, giving coach Joachim Low plenty to worry about ahead of their group matches against Portugal, Denmark and the Netherlands.

The early momentum belonged to Germans, however, for all their monopolisation of possession, any goal threat remained largely elusive, and with 21 minutes gone, the Swiss made them pay.

Barnetta manufactured enough space on the left flank to find club team-mate Derdiyok, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.

Switzerland second goal came within two minutes of the restart as Barnetta again broke free down the left and crossed towards Derdiyok, who headed the ball home.

Joachim Low’s men were shell-shocked, however, on the stroke of first-half injury time, they found a way back into the game.

A teasing free-kick by Mesut Ozil was sent towards the far post and Hummels sent his header in off the underside of the crossbar, giving Germany hope for the second half.

That hope was effectively extinguished five minutes after the restart as Switzerland added a third, with the Leverkusen combination succeeding again.

Barnetta’s free-kick from the left was played into the heart of the German penalty area and Derdiyok rose highest to glance a header passed Marc-Andre ter Stegen and complete his hat-trick.

The home side’s third goal finally sparked Germany and in the 65th minute Schurrle’s strike swerved through goalkeeper Diego Benaglio’s hands to make it 3-2.

That was the first of four goals in 13 minutes.

First, Lichtsteiner flicked the ball past ter Stegen with his head and then Reus scored Germany’s third goal.

And in the 77th minute, Switzerland completed the scoring with a wonderfully-worked free-kick.

On the edge of the box, Gokhan Inler released Reto Ziegler on the overlap and his low drive rebounded off the post, but Mehmedi steadied himself to poke home the rebound.