Ahead of the kick-off in Dortmund, the DFB president Reinhard Grindel gave Podolski an official farewell. Podolski thanked the fans in person for their support over the past 13 years. A fan choreography of a giant carnival cap celebrated the striker's international career.
England made the brighter start in the friendly and they had the better chances in the first half. Adam Lallana hit the woodwork on 31 minutes and Marc André ter Stegen kept out Dele Alli ten minutes later. Joachim Löw's team were lucky to go into the half-time break on equal terms.
Wonder goal from Podolski
The hosts upped their game after the restart. And Julian Brandt was involved in the first really good move: His long-range effort just went wide of Joe Hart's goal on 48 minutes. Brandt, winning his fifth cap, was substituted on the hour mark and he saw the decisive moment of the match from the bench. 69 minutes into his final international appearance, Lukas Podolski unleashed a hammer of a shot from 25 yards out that flew into the top left corner. A wonder goal! Shortly after that, Leroy Sané had the chance to double the lead for the now significantly stronger German side. With six minutes to play, Podolski left the field to a standing ovation. Germany won the friendly 1-0 and now go on to play Azerbaijan in Baku in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday (18.00 CET).
World Cup qualifiers on Friday
The next Werkself pros are in action for their national sides on Friday. Ömer Toprak and Joel Pohjanpalo could face each other in the World Cup qualifier between Turkey and Finland (18.00 CET). In other World Cup qualification games Tin Jedvaj is set to play for Croatia against Ukraine (20.45 CET), Aleksandar Dragovic and Julian Baumgartlinger are with Austria against Moldova (20.45 CET) and Charles Aránguiz is with Chile against Argentina (00.30 CET). Benjamin Henrichs and the Germany U21 side face England in a friendly on Friday (20.00 CET).
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on the 20th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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After full time in the 1-1 draw against FC Bayern Munich, the Bayer 04 fans first had to catch their breath. Firstly because of their usual loud support, and secondly because of the great drama they'd witnessed on the pitch: three disallowed goals, two red cards and a Werkself side who "again produced a very good performance against strong opponents", as head coach Kasper Hjulmand described. The Dane was particularly enthused by the performance of young Montrell Culbreath, while Patrik Schick got to enjoy his 200th appearance under the Cross. The Werkself Review unpacks the action.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-1 draw against FC Bayern Munich on Matchday 26 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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Bayer 04 were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Bayern Munich in an eventful Matchday 26 fixture in the Bundesliga. Aleix Garcia had given the Werkself the lead inside six minutes, but Bayern levelled in the second half through Luis Diaz, despite Nicolas Jackson having been send off before the break. Diaz was then dismissed himself as Leverkusen pushed for a winner, which failed to materialise as Jonas Hofmann saw a late goal ruled out.
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