Internationals: Havertz assist, Baumi landmark

Germany succeeded in recording a hard-fought but very important away win on the road to the European Championships. Joachim Löw's team beat Northern Ireland 2-0 in Belfast on Monday night. Jonathan Tah came off the bench on 41 minutes, and Kai Havertz – exactly a year after his debut for Germany – played the last 20 minutes providing the assist for Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich) with an excellent pass in added time. Marcel Halstenberg (RB Leipzig) opened the scoring on 48 minutes.

Both Bayer 04 players demonstrated they absolutely deserved their time on the pitch: Tah, who came on for the injured Matias Ginter shortly before half-time, proved to be steadfast after his unfortunate night against the Netherlands and he had an absolutely solid and trouble-free game in the back four. And Kai Havertz also made an impression after he came on, was unlucky with two shots (69', 84') but showed his class with his second assist for the Germany senior team. "When I come on, I try to get stuck in so that I might be able to start one or two games in the future," said Havertz modestly after his fifth international appearance. Thanks to the win, Germany take over at the top of Group C from Northern Ireland thanks to a better goal difference.

Baumgartlinger landmark

The night was not so successful for Austria under head coach and former Bayer 04 pro Franco Foda. In the Euro qualifier away to group leaders Poland, Austria deserved the win with their domination for much of the game but ended up having to settle for a 0-0 draw. That means Austria – with four games to go in the qualifiers – drop down to third place in Group G behind Poland and Slovenia. "Being so dominant in Poland and believing in getting a result shows the character of the team. That makes me feel very positive," declared Austria captain Julian Baumgartlinger, who earned his 70^th cap for Austria exactly ten years after making his debut. The Werkself number 15 played the full 90 minutes as did team-mate Aleksandar Dragović.

Bailey, Paulinho and Diaby all win

The international break ended with wins for Leon Bailey (Jamaica), Paulinho (Brazil U23s) and Moussa Diaby (France U21s): Leon Bailey's Jamaica were able to win their second group match in the CONCACAF Nations League in the early hours of Tuesday: They secured a convincing 4-0 win in the away game against Guyana. The Werkself number nine was taken off in the second half. Paulinho and the Brazil Olympic team succeeded in beating Chile 3-1 in a friendly, Moussa Diaby was a winner with the France U21 side in a friendly against the U21s from the Czech Republic. Both Werkself players played the full 90 minutes.

The last Bayer 04 players in action in the current international break today (Tuesday) are Panagiotis Retsos (with the Greece U21s in a Euro qualifier game against the Lithuania U21s), Marc Lamti (with the Tunisia U 23 side in the Africa Cup qualifier against the Cameroon U23s) plus, later on in the night, Lucas Alario (with Argentina against Mexico in a friendly) and Charles Aránguiz (Chile in a friendly in Honduras).