Argentina scored the first goal of the night on 35 minutes and Lionel Messi made it 2-0 with a penalty in the middle of the second half (73'). The Netherlands team refused to give up and the former Bundesliga player Wout Weghorst found the back of the net on 83 and 90+11 minutes – giving the 88,000 spectators 30 minutes of extra time. There were no more goals scored so it came down to penalties. Argentina progressed to the last four by missing one less spot kick than the Oranje. Both Exequiel Palacios with Argentina and Jeremie Frimpong with the Netherlands did not play on the night.
Palacios and Co. face Croatia in the semi-finals. Croatia beat Brazil 2-1 on penalties in the other quarter-final. The match on Tuesday 13 December kicks off at 20.00 CET.
Sardar Azmoun with Iran and Piero Hincapie with Ecuador went out of the 2022 World Cup at the group stage.
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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