Women: Pando on course with Switzerland – Nikolic nets two

The international break brought positive and negative results for the eight international players in the Bayer 04 Women's squad.

Over recent days, six Leverkusen players have started qualifiers for the World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand from 20 July to 20 August 2023. The Serbia team with Dina Blagojevic stood no chance against Germany in Chemnitz. The 24-year-old, signed from SC Sand in the summer, played the full 90 minutes. The player of the match was Germany's centre forward Lea Schüller who scored four goals.

There was better news for Bayer 04 player Irina Pando with Switzerland. The 26-year-old, who moved to Leverkusen from FC Luzern in the summer, played in both matches for the Swiss national team – from the start in the 4-1 win against Lithuania, and from the hour mark in the 6-0 victory in Moldova.

Quartet start every game

Poland with Sylwia Matysik picked up four points against Belgium (1-1) and Armenia (1-0) while Lilla Turanyi and Dora Zeller were pointless with Hungary – a 2-0 defeat against Scotland was followed by a 7-0 loss against Spain. Both Bayer 04 players started in both games.

Milena Nikolic went in search of goals with Bosnia-Herzegovina and with success. She made it 2-2 on 19 minutes in the 3-2 defeat against Montenegro and the 29-year-old scored the opener on six minutes against Malta.

U19 Duo play big part

The Black and Reds were also represented in the qualifiers for the U19 European Championships. Lisanne Gräwe and Sofie Zdebel were in the Germany squad and they played in all three games. New signing Gräwe, who joined Leverkusen from DFB Cup winners VfL Wolfsburg, scored the fourth goal for Germany in the 6-1 win against Slovenia.