Germany had a less arduous task than Austria. Without Jonathan Tah and Florian Wirtz in the starting eleven, Germany produced a dominant performance and with 80 per cent possession they took an early lead. Leon Goretzka made it 1-0 on three minutes with an impressive move involving Joshua Kimmich and Serge Gnabry and a former Leverkusen player struck four minutes later. With build-up play from Leroy Sané, who was a Bayer 04 youth player from 2011 to 2013, Kai Havertz doubled the lead.
The picture changed slightly after the break: The visitors from Iceland were more defensive at the start but they did not pose a real threat to the German team in black. Ilkay Gündogan scored the third goal on 55 minutes. Jonathan Tah and Florian Wirtz did not play.
Aleksandar Dragovic was on the pitch for 90 minutes. Austria twice took the lead in Glasgow through Stuttgart’s Sasa Kalajdzic but the Scots were able to level twice. The game ended all square at 2-2.
The Leverkusen trio are back in action in World Cup qualifiers on Sunday 28 March. While Germany with Jonathan Tah and Florian Wirtz face Romania in Bucharest, Austria with Aleksandar Dragovic play the Faroe Islands in Vienna. Both games kick off at 20.45 CEST.
In mid-August, the Werkself will set off on a four-day trip to England to play their final two friendly matches of the 2026/27 pre-season against Premier League clubs Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. The match in Nottingham against the Tricky Trees is on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the City Ground. The game against the Magpies in Newcastle is on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST) at the atmospheric St James’ Park. Details on ticket sales for both matches.
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Black and Red talent development at the highest level – even off the pitch: Apprentices Jule Suermann, Leandra Bellia and Julia Niederheide have successfully completed their two- or three-year apprenticeships at the club. Bayer 04 honoured the trio at the BayArena on Tuesday.
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The Werkself return tomorrow, Tuesday 14 July (from 11:00 CEST at the BayArena; live stream on bayer04.de, the Bayer 04 app and YouTube), with new head coach Carles Martínez leading his first training session as part of the Bayer 04 set-up. His coaching team comprises a mix of new and long-standing colleagues.
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The Germany U19 team were beaten 2-0 by record champions Spain in the final of the U19 European Championship in Wales. Bayer 04 players Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka (on loan at SV 07 Elversberg) were in the starting line-up and played the full 90 minutes.
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