Kasper Schmeichel retires at the age of 39, with the Celtic and Denmark goalkeeper unable to recover sufficiently from a serious shoulder injury.

Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt among teams facing a nervy last day with their managers precariously placedNot the end, perhaps, but certainly the denouement. After the penultimate weekend of the Bundesliga season some big issues remain open; the confirmation of the fourth team to qualify for the Champions League, who will be the two teams to drop to the second tier and which side will get a two-legged opportunity to reprieve themselves.Yet the German game is nothing if not reliably businesslike in getting some of next season’s key parameters set before the current exercise is done. There was no need for official announcements here, though, with the results doing the explaining for us. Or, in a few cases, the performances. There has been considerable doubt, for example, whether Kasper Hjulmand would continue as Bayer Leverkusen coach next season. Now, there is none. Continue reading...

Christian Eriksen will see two of his former sides come up against each other in the Premier League on Monday night.

Two ‘factory’ teams of German football proved that there is plenty at stake in the Bundesliga after a 6-3 win for LeverkusenThey said nobody cared enough for the stakes to be this high. If discussion over the destination of the title (and second place for that matter) has been and gone, there is plenty more in the Bundesliga tank and for Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg, two clubs who will never hold universal approval despite producing teams to thrill us and break the Bayern monopoly in the last two decades, that is truer than for most. Before RB Leipzig were around to corral all the disapproval of German supporters at large, there was El Plastico. As the two ‘factory’ teams of German football, grown from Bayer and Volkswagen respectively rather than from a fanbase, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg have endured a lifetime of rival fans looking down their noses at them, judging them as not organic or real enough.Conversely this fixture, if derided by some, has produced a string of memorable games; the 5-4 win for Wolfsburg at the Bay Arena in 2015 during current boss Dieter Hecking’s successful first spell, sealed by Bas Dost’s four goals, or the typically later-than-late Leverkusen 4-3 in September 2024 dusted by Victor Boniface’s stoppage-time winner. So when Bild’s headline called this “the wildest plastico of all time,” they really did mean it was something special. Tension and huge potential consequences can often make for a stilted, cautious spectacle. Not here. For Wolfsburg, there was an element of predictability in that it was a 20th successive game without a clean sheet – and they didn’t look like keeping one for an instant. Still, the record – the worst defensive run in the club’s history since a previous Dieter Hecking side did the same in 2014 – wouldn’t have mattered at all had Die Wölfe held the 3-1 lead with which they approached half-time, having seemingly found some nerve to help their desperate situation at the bottom of the table. In that first half, Hecking would have been delighted. If there had been a thick volume of hard luck stories over recent weeks, Wolfsburg had no time to listen to them here. After Jonas Wind’s opener, they were unhappy with the penalty awarded to Leverkusen when Joakim Mæhle feathered a slight touch on Ibrahim Maza in the penalty area – converted for the hosts by Alejandro Grimaldo – but literally seconds later Maehle himself stepped up to blast Wolfsburg back in front with a rocket from long range. When Christian Eriksen converted a Wolfsburg penalty shortly after it was 3-1 and finally the strugglers were showing real fortitude. There was light, at last, at the end of the tunnel. Instead, the inevitable Grimaldo brought Leverkusen back into the match by finishing a smart move just before half-time, enabling his coach, Kasper Hjulmand, to make the changes at the break to turn the match, and perhaps to change his own fate at the helm. For if we look at Wolfsburg’s moment of crisis, the home side were facing one at 3-1 down. “A change of coach is not a scenario we are considering,” Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes had said before the game but losing at home to a team in the bottom two – to severely compromise Die Werkself’s chances of a return to the Champions League – would have sorely tested that stance. It wouldn’t have been the first time Rolfes has been forced into an abrupt pivot this season. That, incidentally, is what Hjulmand used to really change the momentum; taking off Equi Fernández, bringing on Patrik Schick to join Christian Kofane up front and really attacking in a season where Leverkusen have often looked too tentative. Schick equalised from another spot-kick before Edmund Tapsoba put the hosts in front. The excellent Maza added another and substitute Malik Tillman made it six after a brilliant slalom along the byline by Ernest Poku. Continue reading...

Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel undergoes the first of two planned shoulder surgeries as the veteran looks to salvage his playing career.

Martin O'Neill admits "surprise at the severity" of Kasper Schmeichel's shoulder problems after the Celtic goalkeeper announced he may have played his last game.

Former Leicester City and Manchester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has revealed that his professional career could be over after suffering a serious shoulder injury

Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel may have played his "last football game" with surgery required on his shoulder but he is eager to "fight" to regain fitness.

"You do it too, eh?". Those were the words from Arsenal's set-piece coach Nicolas Jover to Bayer Leverkusen manager Kasper Hjulmand after the German side scored from a corner in the 1-1 Champions League last-16 first-leg draw between the two sides.

Whoever runs Bayer Leverkusen’s social media accounts obviously meant it as a joke. But even they couldn’t have predicted that a cheeky post hours before kick-off would almost end up being such a good omen for Kasper Hjulmand’s side. “No corners allowed,” it read in a clear dig at Arsenal’s favoured modus operandi this season, before adding: “Worth a try … ”Nonetheless, the plan seemed to be working for almost the entire cagey first half when neither side managed to muster a single corner until stoppage time. But everything changed at the start of the second half when Leverkusen’s captain Robert Andrich headed home their second corner of the evening. Suddenly Arsenal found themselves in a game. Step forward Kai Havertz to rescue them against his former club as the Germany forward came off the bench to score a late equaliser from the penalty spot after Noni Madueke was brought down. Continue reading...