The Stuttgart forward, in for the injured Deniz Undav, had a goal within two minutes of his first cap ruled out after a VAR check showed Serge Gnabry was offside in the build-up.

However, there was no denying Leweling in the 64th minute as the 23 year-old thumped a loose ball inside the box into the top corner past Bart Verbruggen to give the hosts a deserved lead in Munich.

Verbruggen had undoubtedly been the busier of the two goalkeepers up until that point, making four saves prior to the breakthrough from Leweling, who also had a goal-bound shot blocked near the line by Stefan de Vrij.

Netherlands twice went close to equalising in the final 15 minutes, but Oliver Baumann got a faint touch to a long-range Xavi Simons drive to help it onto the crossbar and then superbly helped Donyell Malen's powerful effort wide.

The win moves Germany to 10 points from its first four Group A3 matches, five points clear of Netherlands and Hungary - 2-0 winner away at Bosnia and Herzegovina - with two games remaining.