The Green-Whites are back in Bremen after an intensive training camp in Zillertal. After ten days of hard work, the players now have a couple of days off to look forward to before training resumes on Tuesday. Focus now turns to the final stretch of pre-season ahead of the return of Bundesliga football.

“I think the outcome of Wednesday’s game (leg two vs. PSG) has nothing to do at all with Julian Nagelsmann’s position,” Hoeneß explained earlier this week (Az, via @iMiaSanMia).

The game was available to follow by a livestream and as a result the ground was fairly quiet at the normally sold-out Europa-Park Stadion. This also meant that you could hear every instruction from the dugout and on the pitch. U23 coach Thomas Stamm followed both games, and a number of his players who were in action, from the stands. SC’s first attack was after a few minutes, with Mika Baur crossing the ball across the box, but no-one was able to get on the end of it.

Marius, what are your first impressions of TSG?

Tymoteusz Puchacz and Poland are in the hunt for a World Cup berth. A win in Andorra or at home to Hungary should be enough to make a place in the World Cup safe or a spot in the play-offs for the ten group runners-up and two qualifiers from the UEFA Nations League. Julian Ryerson and Norway face a similar predicament and face Latvia and the Netherlands in the next fortnight.

This has understandably alerted Chelsea’s rivals.

But this memorable final, which was played in front of a magnificent crowd of almost 16,000 spectators at the Mewa Arena, will be the final appearance for this U19 side, which has represented BVB in sterling fashion on the national and international stage. The team will never play in this set-up again. The entire squad celebrated their farewell together with their coaches, support staff and parents. “The parents have invested substantially in the boys’ training and have had to make lots of sacrifices. It was therefore a matter of course to say thank-you to them too,” explained Mike Tullberg. Goalkeeper Marian Kirsch and outfield players Nnamdi Collins, Farouk Cisse, Hendry Blank, Tom Rothe, Jonah Husseck, Samuel Bamba, Vasco Walz, Michel Ludwig and Isaak Nwachukwu will now move up into the senior set-up. 

Borussia win pre-season tournament in Heimstetten The Foals celebrate two wins against 1860 Munich (2-1) and...

It almost happened.

The game had only just kicked off when Noah Atubolu was called upon to make his first save, brilliantly saving from Emanuel Emegha one-on-one. He didn’t have any chance against Lucas Perrin’s header from close range moments later, though, and the guests went 1-0 up (4’). The visitors could have extended their lead in these early stages, with both Emanuel Emegha and Gerzino Nyams hitting the woodwork (6’, 7’).