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).
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without the two strikers in the immediate future. Caroline Kehrer suffered a torn ligament in her right knee and Amy Wrigge tore her cruciate ligament.
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The #B04eSports players now have the next chance to win a trophy. After their elimination in the quarter-finals of the VBL Club Championship Final 2025/26, the German club championship, Marc and Sean Landwehr will compete with seven other teams in the finals of the DFB-ePokal 2026 with prize money totalling €65,000. The "highly motivated" Leverkusen team will face the defending champions FOKUS with well-known influencer Elias ‘EliasN97’ Nerlich in the quarter-finals in Frankfurt on Friday, 20 March (from 18:15 CET). The semi-finals and final will be played on Saturday, 21 March.
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Bayer 04 host Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal. The tie will be played on Wednesday, 22 April 2026, at the BayArena with the kick-off at 20:45 CEST. Information on ticket sales.
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Bayer 04 have the chance to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the third time ever and the first in 14 years at Arsenal on Tuesday night (kick-off 21:00 CEST/20:00 local time). To do that, the Werkself not only require a strong performance like in the first leg, but also full concentration until the very last minute, as the Premier League leaders like to score late - as they did at the BayArena last week. Here's the Matchday News.
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A special award for special social commitment. At this year's ceremony for the Sepp Herberger Awards in Wolfsburg on Monday night, the DFB Sepp Herberger Foundation recognised Bayer 04 in the social rehabilitation category. The Bundesliga club received the prize, together with €12,000, for its great service to inmates, particularly in the Wuppertal-Ronsdorf prison.
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