The dream of defending the title lives on. Even though the Germany U21 side were unable to build on their convincing performances in the previous group matches against Denmark (3-1) and Serbia (6-1) against a battling Austria they do go through to the last four unbeaten.
In front of a 9,000 crowd at the Dacia Arena in Udine (Italy), the two teams were on equal terms from the start of the match: Austria pressed forward early and prevented the Germany junior team playing their normal game – accordingly the opener for Germany came from a long-range effort: A ball from the again very impressive captain Jonathan Tah found Freiburg player Luca Waldschmidt who took a chance and hit the ball from a central position 25 yards out into the top right corner (14').
The 1-0 scoreline did not last long. Austria were awarded a penalty after a foul by the otherwise impressive keeper Alexander Nübel (FC Schalke) and Kevin Danso (FC Augsburg) was able to convert the spot kick (24') – it was the third goal scored from the penalty spot against Germany in the third match at this European Championships. Germany were lucky in added time at the end of the first half when Austria's Sasa Kalajdzic hit the post with a header. The two sides cancelled each other out in the second half with little threat on goal at either end.
The 1-1 draw was enough for Germany to win the group, go through to the semi-finals and thereby qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo
Germany's opponents in the last four will be determined after the end of the group stage on Monday night.
It took exactly 60 minutes for the Werkself to take the lead through a perfectly finished counter-attack by Patrik Schick in the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off at Olympiacos. Referring to the meeting in the league phase and the initially squandered opportunities, coach Kasper Hjulmand said afterwards: "I thought: 'Oh no, déjà-vu.'" But after the opening goal, it took just 144 seconds for the Czech to spark more wild celebrations among those in black and red in the Greek cauldron, when Schick nodded in Alejandro Grimaldo's corner. Much to the delight of the Bayer 04 fans, his teammates and his coach, who had warm words for the striker in the aftermath. The Werkself Review.
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Werkself TV shows highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
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The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
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Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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