In front of 12,000-strong crowd at the A. Le Coq Arena in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, a brace from Ilkay Gündogan after half-time (51’, 57’) put Germany on the way to victory and substitute Timo Werner rounded off proceedings with the third goal on 71 minutes.
Germany, with Kai Havertz in the starting line-up on the right side of midfield in his seventh international, were a man down for 75 minutes of the game after the former Leverkusen player Emre Can was shown a red card for a professional foul (14’). The German team struggled as a result for much of the game. Nadiem Amiri came off the bench on 86 minutes to win his second cap. Germany are level on points with Holland in second place in Group C with two games to play.
Austria also remain on course to qualify for the European Championships finals. The team coached by Franco Foda beat Slovenia 1-0 in Group G. With Slovenia struggling to make an impression in the game, Stefan Posch scored the winner with a header on 21 minutes. Austria are second to Poland, who are already through to the finals, with a five-point lead over North Macedonia. Skipper Julian Baumgartlinger and Aleksandar Dragovic went the full distance in the win for Austria.
Argentina romped home with a 6-1 victory over Ecuador in a friendly on Sunday. Four days after his goal in the 2-2 draw with Germany, Lucas Alario opened the floodgates on 20 minutes – with another header. The other goals for Argentina in a game played in the Spanish city of Elche were an own goal by Jhon Espinoza (27’) plus strikes from Leandro Parades (32’ pen.), German Pezzella (66’), Nicolas Dominguez (82’) and Lucas Ocampos (86’). Ecuador’s Angel Mena scored a consolation goal on 49 minutes. Alario started but was substituted on 57 minutes.
Joel Pohjanpalo celebrated his return to the Finland team on Saturday. After nearly 18 months ruled out through injury, the Werkself number 17 came on for the second half in the Euro qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina and he scored the only goal for the Finns in a four-one defeat. Finland were unable to build on their previous performances in the qualifiers and conceded as many goals in this game as in all the previous matches in the qualifying group. The goals for the hosts were scored by Izet Hajrovic (29’), Miralem Pjanic (37’, 58’ pen.) and Armin Hodzic (73’). Lucas Hradecky was in goal for the Eagle Owls and he produced numerous saves to prevent an even greater defeat. Finland remain in second place in Group J behind Italy who have already qualified. The next game for Finland is against third-placed Armenia on Tuesday (18.00 CET).
The Werkself training camp officially began early on Tuesday morning with the landing in Rio de Janeiro. Ahead of the first session in the afternoon local time, bayer04.de profiles the talented youngsters from the youth teams who have travelled to Brazil.
Show morePreparations for the 2025/26 season are in full swing with the new head coach Erik ten Hag working for the start of the season in the middle of August. After the timings for the first matchdays in the forthcoming Bundesliga season were confirmed a few days ago, we now provide information on the first sale phase for match tickets. The early booker phase, exclusively for Bayer 04 Club members, brings some changes. Read on for further information.
Show moreBayer 04 are away to SG Sonnenhof Großaspach in the first round of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal. The match is on Friday, 15 August (kick-off: 18:00 CEST) at the WIRmachenDRUCK Arena. Read on for the latest ticket information.
Show moreBayer 04 Leverkusen will partner closely with parent-company Bayer during its preseason tour to Brazil from July 14 to 24 this month. The backing from Bayer of the “Bayer 04 Brasil Tour” has been crucial in organizing the groundbreaking training camp for ten days, plus a host of local activities and community events capped by the match against Flamengo's U20 team on July 18 at Estádio da Gávea.
Show moreThe bags are packed and Bayer 04 will set off for Brazil in a few hours. Over the next ten days, the team led by head coach Erik ten Hag will be the first Bundesliga side to hold a training camp in the country of the five-time World Cup winners. The Werkself will train at Flamengo’s Campus Ninho do Urubu under the motto ‘Esquenta!’ (warm up) and play a friendly against the U20 team of the world-famous club. Read on for training camp timetable.
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