The relief was clear for all to see at the end. After the final whistle in Brasília the players in the team coached by Horst Hrubesch embraced each other and celebrated making it through to the last four. In spite of the 4-0 result it was a tough game for the Germany Olympic team against Portugal. The floodgates opened just before half-time when Serge Gnabry scored. Lars Bender won the ball with his usual determined approach, Julian Brandt picked out the Arsenal player and Gnabry netted with aplomb.
Seven assists from Brandt
And Brandt continued to shine on the right wing: Again and again he caused problems in the opposition penalty area with some accurate assists and two efforts on goal. Matthias Ginter made it 2-0 from a Brandt corner on 58 minutes. And it got even better: Davie Selke added a third on 75 minutes and Brandt again provided another assist for substitute Philipp Max to round off the scoring on 84 minutes. That was the seventh assist from the blond striker at this Olympic tournament.
Lars Bender was not on the pitch at that point. Up to 71 minutes he gave his all as the driving force in an attacking line of four in the new 4-1-4-1 system before Hrubesch granted him an early finish to his shift. Germany are next in action in the semi-final on Wednesday (18.00 CET). Nigeria or Denmark will be the opponents in Sao Paulo. Another victory would see Germany win silver at least.
The final whistle of the current 2025/26 season marks the end of a unique partnership for Bayer 04 Leverkusen. After more than three decades of collaboration and highly eventful times, the Bundesliga football club and the private brewery Bitburger are going their separate ways.
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Around four months after their bitter exit in the DFB Pokal Round of 16, the Bayer 04 Women are once again away to Hamburger SV. On Monday night (18:00 CEST), the Werkself will not only be looking to pick up important points in the final phase of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga at the Volksparkstadion, but also to make amends for their defeat on penalties.
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On Saturday, 28 March, the lights will go out again at the BayArena from 20:30 pm to 21:30. As in previous years, Bayer 04 once again take part in the WWF Earth Hour campaign under the motto "We're switching off" as the club wants to set a collective example for more climate and environmental protection together with people, cities and companies around the world.
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