Germany coach Joachim Low felt Mario Gomez's winning goal in their Euro 2012 victory over Portugal justified his decision to start with the Bayern Munich striker ahead of Miroslav Klose.

Gomez scored a fine header as Low's side opened the Group B campaign with a 1-0 success in Lviv, joining Denmark at the top of the 'Group of Death' after the Danes' shock 1-0 triumph over Holland.

Lazio frontman Klose - scorer of 14 World Cup goals - has been struggling with a thigh injury in the build-up to the tournament, meaning Gomez got the nod up front.

Perfect: Mario Gomez powers his header home

Portugal's defensive attitude had frustrated Germany for 72 minutes, and Gomez was about to be substituted when he planted Sami Khedira's cross past goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Low said: 'I spoke with Miro. He still needs maybe a few per cent at this moment. He hasn't played for quite while in the preparation.

'They both trained really well but Gomez has been playing for the whole season, scoring lots of goals. He's a different type of player than Miro and he showed tonight he has lots of different qualities - one chance, one goal.'

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