
The Spain U17s, including Iker Bravo, beat Estonia 4-0 in a qualifier for the U17 European Championship. The U19 international, who has already played for the Werkself, came off the subs bench on 66 minutes and he scored the final goal at 4-0 five minutes later. Bravo and Co. had already come out on top against Belgium (1-0) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (4-1). That puts the Spaniards top of Group D unbeaten after three games.
And Bayer 04 new signing Sardar Azmoun also found the back of the net: Having already qualified for the World Cup finals, Iran secured a convincing 2-0 win against Lebanon in their final qualifier. Azmoun played the full 90 minutes and he opened the scoring for his side on 35 minutes. In addition to Iran, hosts Qatar, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia are the qualifiers from Asia to date. The United Arab Emirates and Australia are still in the running. The winners of that game face the fifth-placed team in South America in a play-off.
Ahead of the final qualifiers in South America, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador were already through to the finals. Peru have finished in fifth place and are now in the play-off against a team from Asia for a slot at the finals. Werkself player Charles Aránguiz and Chile did not qualify. Chile suffered a 2-0 defeat to Uruguay. Aránguiz was in the starting eleven and he went the full distance.
Two Black and Red players faced each other in another game: the qualified team from Ecuador with Piero Hincapie drew 1-1 with fellow finalists Argentina including Exequiel Palacios. Both Leverkusen players were on the pitch: Hincapie played the full 90 minutes in central defence. Pala came on for Mac Allister on 59 minutes.
The Netherlands U21s beat top of the table Switzerland (19 points) 2-0 in a European Championship qualifier and they remain on the heels of the Swiss team in second place with 17 points having played a game less. Particularly good news: Mitchel Bakker was in the starting line-up and he played the full game.
Finland and Lukas Hradecky lost 2-0 to Slovakia in a friendly. The Black and Reds captain was between the sticks for the full duration of the game. Burkina Faso lost 3-0 in their friendly against Belgium. Edmond Tapsoba also played from the start and he was shown a yellow card.

And that’s not all: France clocked up an impressive 5-0 victory over South Africa in a friendly. Moussa Diaby came on as a sub on 64 minutes. The Ivory Coast lost 3-0 to England in a friendly. Bayer 04 defender Odilon Kossounou did not play.
Yesterday’s friendly between the Netherlands and Germany finished all square at 1-1. After Jonathan Tah played the full 90 minutes in the 2-0 win against Israel, he did not feature in this match.

Bayer 04’s Ibrahim Maza is among the three nominees for the Bundesliga’s 2025/26 Rookie of the Season award. Fans have until 23:59 CEST on Thursday, 7 May to cast their votes in the official Bundesliga app.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 4-0 win at SGS Essen on the 24th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Bayer 04 Women have kept their chance of qualifying for the Champions League alive in the Bundesliga run-in. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 4-0 at SGS Essen on Sunday afternoon, improving their record from last season to 14 wins this term. With 43 points, the Werkself equalled another record from the 2024/25 season and at the same time reduced the gap to third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt to two points, at least for tonight. Loreen Bender (4’), Kristin Kögel (41’, 68’) and Cornelia Kramer (89’) scored for the Black and Reds, who dominated the game to record their fourth win on the bounce.
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With the 4-1 home win against RB Leipzig, the Werkself not only ended the run of five consecutive victories for RBL, but also moved up to fourth place, which would ensure qualification for the UEFA Champions League. While the media praised the impressive performance of Leverkusen's hat-trick hero Patrik Schick in particular, the team and coach were delighted with the "fantastic energy" from the stands and are looking to take the momentum into the remaining two games: "We have to perform like we did today in Stuttgart!" The Werkself review.
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