Finland with goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky played Bosnia and Herzegovina on the first matchday in Group 3 of the Nations League League B. In the capital Helsinki, star striker Teemu Pukki opened the scoring from the penalty spot just before half-time, Bosnia's Smail Prevljak equalised in added time in the second half with the game ending in a 1-1 draw.
The North European side now play the other group opponents Montenegro (7 June) and Romania (11 June); and the return match against Bosnia-Herzegovina is also in the current run of international fixtures (14 June).
Germany started the new season in the Nations League with an absolute classic fixture: The team under coach Hansi Flick faced Italy in Bergamo. The game remained goalless for a long time. Lorenzo Pellegrini (AS Roma) gave the Squadra Azzura the lead on 70 minutes but Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich levelled just three minutes later. The big match ended in a draw after 90 minutes with Werkself defender Jonathan Tah watching the game from the bench.
Germany have the next crunch encounter on Tuesday night (7 June): England are the visitors in Munich. That is followed by matches against Hungary (11 June) and Italy again on 14 June.
The next games involving Black and Red players are for Argentina with Exequiel Palacios and Ecuador with Piero Hincapie. Pala and Co. play a friendly against Estonia tonight (Sunday) with the kick off at 20.00 CEST in the Spanish city of Pamplona. Ecuador are also set to play a friendly: They face Mexico overnight from Sunday to Monday with the kick off at 01.30 CEST.
REMAINING INTERNATIONAL FIXTURES:
Jonathan Tah – Germany
7 June, 20:45 CEST: Germany vs England (UEFA Nations League)
11 June, 20.45 CEST: Hungary vs Germany (UEFA Nations League)
14 June, 20.45 CEST: Germany vs Italy (UEFA Nations League)
Lukas Hradecky – Finland
7 June, 18.00 CEST: Finland vs Montenegro (UEFA Nations League)
11 June, 20.45 CEST: Romania vs Finland (UEFA Nations League)
14 June, 20.45 CEST: Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Finland (UEFA Nations League)
Moussa Diaby – France
6 June, 20.45 CEST: Croatia vs France (UEFA Nations League)
10 June, 20.45 CEST: Austria vs France (UEFA Nations League)
13 June, 20.45 CEST: France vs Croatia (UEFA Nations League)
Exequiel Palacios – Argentina
5 June, 20.00 CEST: Argentina vs Estonia (Friendly)
Piero Hincapie – Ecuador
6 June, 01.30 CEST: Mexico vs Ecuador (Friendly)
12 June, 23.30 CEST: Ecuador vs Cape Verde (Friendly)
Edmond Tapsoba – Burkina Faso
7 June, 15.00 CEST: Eswatini vs Burkina Faso (AFCON qualifier)
Odilon Kossounou – Ivory Coast
9 June, 21.00 CEST: Lesotho vs Ivory Coast (AFCON qualifier)
Mitchel Bakker – Netherlands U21
7 June, 20.00 CEST: Netherlands U21 vs Gibraltar U21 (Euro qualifier)
11 June, 18.00 CEST: Wales U21 vs Netherlands U21 (Euro qualifier)
In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
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