No goals at Wembley as this time, in contrast to the legendary 1966 World Cup final, a rocket shot from Leroy Sané hit the underside of the bar but was rightly judged not to have crossed the line – in spite of the draw, the game between the two big European football nations proved to be entertaining encounter. Germany kept up their impressive record at England's home of football with a goalless draw that extends an unbeaten record since 1975. Bernd Leno did not play but Julian Brandt came on in the 86th minute to earn his 13th international cap. Joachim Löw's team are in action again in Cologne on Tuesday (20.45 CET) in the final match of the year against France.
Switzerland and Admir Mehmedi are on the verge of qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. In the first leg of the play-off against Northern Ireland, the Swiss earned a deserved 1-0 win and they are in the driving seat ahead of Sundays decisive return match at the St Jakob Park stadium in Basel (18.00 CET). The former Wolfsburg player Ricardo Rodriguez, now playing for AC Milan, converted a penalty on 58 minutes for the only goal of the game. Mehmedi came on with three minutes to play for his 57th full international appearance.
Panos Retsos was also on the bench at the start of his play-off match. When the Bayer 04 pro was brought on by Michael Skibbe at the start of the second half, Greece were already 3-1 down against Croatia in Zagreb. The match ended in a 4-1 defeat for the Greeks who were unable to cope with the lively approach of the hosts and they made several errors in defence. Tin Jedvaj, currently recovering in Leverkusen, watched the match from afar and was able to enjoy the Croatian victory. The chances of Greece turning the tie round are slim ahead of Sunday's return match in Piraeus (20.45 CET).
Joel Pohjanpalo and Finland beat Estonia 3-0 in a friendly. 'Danger' played the full 90 minutes and provided the assist for the opening goal. On Sunday (14.30 CET), the two Bayer 04 youth players Sam Schreck and Atakan Akkaynak are set to play for the Germany U19s in Cyprus. Julian Baumgartlinger is likely to play for Austria in a friendly against Uruguay on Tuesday.
Bayer 04 welcome St. Pauli to the BayArena in the Bundesliga on Saturday, with the club using the game to call for fans to donate food to the Leverkusen Foodbank.
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Bayer 04 Women are looking to finish what’s already the best first half of a Bundesliga season in their history with the huge scalp of the league leaders as Wolfsburg come to the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Friday (kick-off: 6.30pm CET). Victory would even see Roberto Pätzold’s side go top of the table overnight at least.
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With two days to go until the top-of-the-table clash against VfL Wolfsburg in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga, bayer04.de looks back over Bayer 04 Women's international exploits. Eleven players were in action with their countries in recent days – with mixed success. Seven of them represented either the Germany U23s or U20s, while one player scored three goals in total.
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The holders against the record winners: this high-profile clash lived up to expectations. In the DFB Pokal round of 16, Bayer 04 and FC Bayern Munich delivered a hard-fought contest. In the end it was the Werkself who progressed to the quarter-finals thanks to ruthless efficiency in attack and composure in defence. Head coach Xabi Alonso remains unbeaten against FC Bayern as Leverkusen coach after five meetings – something never achieved by a Bundesliga coach before. The Werkself Review.
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Bayer 04 claimed a 1-0 win away at Bayern Munich to reach the quarter-finals of the DFB Pokal. Nathan Tella headed in the only goal of the evening in the 68th minute for the reigning double winners in a heated affair, where Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was shown an early red card.
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