Paulinho started his summer break on Sunday. The Werkself number seven (pictured above wearing the number 33) has been playing for the Brazil U22 team at the Maurice Ravello tournament in Toulon. With success. The Brazil youngsters beat Japan in the final on Saturday 6-5 on penalties. Paulinho, who scored a goal and provided an assist in the 2-0 win in the semi-final against Ireland, played the full 90 minutes in the final. The 18-year-old winger scored three goals and laid on two – and he was also named ‘Best young player’ and the scorer of the ‘Best goal of the tournament’.
Today sees the start of the U21 European Championships (16 to 30 June) in Italy and San Marino for the German team led by captain Jonathan Tah. "Of course, it's always special for me being the captain," said Tah at the weekend and he spoke about a "great honour". The 23-year-old central defender joined the squad a few days ago after being on the road with the senior Germany team. "The way he leads the team not just verbally but also on the pitch is everything a coach would wish for," said Germany coach Stefan Kuntz in praise of Tah's performances. The U21 European champions of 2017 start their title defence at 21.00 CET with the first of three group matches against Denmark. On Thursday (20 June, 21.00 CET) Germany face Serbia and Austria provide the opposition on Sunday (23 June, 21.00 CET)..
Jonathan Tah is joined on international duty this week by Charles Aránguiz (Chile) and Leon Bailey (Jamaica). Aránguiz and Chile tonight play Japan (18 June, 01.00 CET) in the group stage of the Copa America (14 June to 7 July), this year held in Brazil, before Saturday's match against Ecuador (22 June, 01.00 CET). At the Gold Cup (15 June to 7 July in the USA, Costa Rica and Jamaica) Bailey and Jamaica play Honduras (18 June, 03.30 CET) and El Salvador (22 June, 01.00 CET) for a place in the quarter-finals.
The Monday edition of the sports journal kicker includes the first part of the six-monthly ranking of German football. Jonathan Tah is behind Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich) and ahead of Willi Orban (RB Leipzig) in second place ('International class'). The kicker highlights the fact that, during the evaluation period from 10 January to 14 June, Tah "Did his job reliably, stood out with his positional play and has the best average marks in his position at 2.74." Tah's team-mate Sven Bender was one of 13 Bundesliga pros named in the' Up-and-coming' section. There was a similar assessment of Wendell. The 25-year-old Brazilian was also mentioned in a similar section for full-backs thanks to his "massive improvement in performances in the second half of the season with one goal and one assist." In contrast, Lukas Hradecky misses out in the 12-man goalkeeper rankings because the kicker editors say he only produced "Top performances rarely and made too many slips." Rankings for the other position will follow in the next few days.
Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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They're well on their way to becoming German champions for the 35th time and once again proved their incredible class in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. This Saturday, 14 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayern Munich will be the visitors to the BayArena. It'll be a meeting of the two Bundesliga teams with the most dominant styles of play. A look at our opponents shows the visitors from the Bavarian capital have many strengths - but are also vulnerable.
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