Russia coach Guus Hiddink paid tribute to his side's display although he was less impressed with the display of referee Massimo Busacca.

The referee turned down an appeal for a penalty when Andrey Arshavin went down under a challenge from Heiko Westermann.

"I think despite the loss today we can be satisfied with our attacking play. We showed a lot of character, particularly in the second half," he said.

"Had we won the Arshavin penalty, which I have been told was a 100% penalty, we would have been more determined in the last five or six minutes.

"The German team did not attack too much. They played on the counter attack, which is okay - it's their tactic.

"We can be happy with the performance. If we play like this we have the chance to qualify in November for the finals and if we play like we did tonight we can be dangerous for any opponent."

Tottenham's Roman Pavlyuchenko came on as a second half substitute but struggled to make an impact, with Hiddink hinting that the striker needs to start playing as soon as possible.

"Pavlyuchenko has problems with an injury and was not able to play for more than 35-40 minutes," he added.

"But he's always a man who can score at any moment, as we saw against England two years ago.

"If you see Pavlyuchenko at full strength there is almost always a guarantee that he will score in the big games.

"He is having a difficult period for his club and needs to start playing as soon as possible."