Julian Nagelsmann takes advantage of a little-known football rule - loved by Jose Mourinho - to save Germany... but can you figure out the law he capitalised on to infuriate Austria?

Austrian media have accused Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann of telling goalkeeper Kevin Trapp to feign injury during their clash on Tuesday night - with the help of a little-known rule of the game.

The two nations faced off in a friendly in Vienna, with the hosts winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Marcel Sabitzer and Christoph Baumgartner. Leroy Sane also saw red for the Germans for pushing Philipp Mwene.

However, the 36-year-old - who only took on the role in September -  could be in even deeper trouble after he was accused in the Austrian media of taking advantage of a rule, which has previously been used by Jose Mourinho. 

The incident came shortly after Sane received his marching orders in the 49th minute, with Nagelsmann in need of tactical reshuffle.

In a clip of the incident, Nagelsmann appeared to be shouting in the direction of Trapp, before he held the back of his leg and gestured towards the ground. Shortly afterwards, Trapp, who was taking a goal kick, sank to the ground.

The little-known rule linked to Nagelsmann's move is that goalkeepers are the only players who do not have to leave the field if they are interrupted by injury.

As Germany's medical staff then ran onto the pitch to tender to Trapp, Nagelsmann was seen speaking and relaying instructions to Thomas Muller. 

A sheet of paper was also passed to Benjamin Henrichs and onto Kai Havertz, with the Arsenal playmaker playing slightly further forward during the rest of the game.

ORF, the Austrian broadcaster who were showing the game, were quick to pick up on the alleged incident.

Herbert Prohaska - an 83-cap Austrian international who was working as an expert for the channel - slammed Nagelsmann as he said: 'This action is pathetic. This is weak for all of Germany. You just do not do that. As a trainer, you have to be able to provide information in a short time.'

Commentator Thomas Konig added: 'There you go, that’s pathetic... I’m not doing that as a German national team!'

Nagelsmann and Trapp refused to comment on the issue when asked by BILD, although the goalkeeper told Austrian TV that he was suffering with a problem at that point.

Nagelsmann also received criticism from Germany's papers, as Heute wrote: 'Unathletic Nagelsmann feigns injury'.

The German though isn't the first big name manager to take advantage of the rule, with John Terry previously revealing that Mourinho used the same tactic when he was at Chelsea.

While working as a pundit for beIN Sports' coverage of last year's World Cup, Terry said: 'I remember, the rule was, if we were 1-0 up and the ball got delivered into the box… if two defenders went up together and both went down on the floor after, you didn't have to go off the field of play.

'So last 10 or 15 minutes, he would sit me and Gary Cahill down and go: "when the ball comes in the box, make sure you both go down - bump into each other and both go down because you can't both go off".

'We'd never heard of that rule ever. So ball comes over in the last 10 minutes, head it away, Gaz goes down and I think "I better go down". So I dropped to the floor and the ref said "you two off the pitch". I said "no that's not the rule, ask the linesman".'

Terry added: 'Mourinho was so far ahead with those little bits and you're talking small margins and the best managers find those little margins. Incredible.' 

It is particularly pertinent that the incident involving Nagelsmann took place in Austria, with Austria Vienna boss Michael Wimmer recently banned for one-game after instructing his goalkeeper Christian Fruchtl to feign injury in a clash against Rapid Vienna after his side had been reduced to nine men. 

Tuesday's result added further misery to Nagelsmann's time with the national team, increasing fears that the hosts of next summer's Euro 2024 may suffer an embarrassment at the tournament.

Germany lost 3-2 to Turkey on Saturday and Nagelsmann has won just one of his four games in charge. 

Speaking post game, Nagelsmann admitted he had a lot of work to do in turning his side around.

'We're not playing freely. We've an unbelievable amount of work to do in each position,' the former Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim boss told German broadcaster ZDF. 

'We need to accept the situation but we can't fall into the role of being victims.

'We are a really well-functioning group at training, but it's not transferring onto the pitch. 

'We're missing some self-confidence, which is not a surprise when you see the past few months.'