Germany

It’s impossible to forget Germany’s epic six-goal beatdown of Brazil at the 2014 World Cup. But for those who missed it, the first half of the Barcelona-Bayern Munich Champions League quarterfinal on Friday was a pretty good reenactment.

Bayern Munich relentlessly breached Barcelona’s vulnerable defense en route to a 4-1 halftime lead in Lisbon, stunning a Blaugrana side not used to facing such an onslaught.

Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen took on Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer in a public spat last year over the Germany goalkeeper's jersey and the confrontation will be played out on the pitch in Friday's Champions League quarterfinal.

Only Lionel Messi can rival Ter Stegen, 28, for the title of Barça's most decisive player in the last few seasons, but his heroics for his club have not been enough to overhaul Neuer, 34, on the international stage.

A flurry of football action filled screens when the sport resumed following months of hiatus due to coronavirus. With major domestic league seasons finished and the Champions League wrapping up in August, it’s hard to believe that football again resumes soon. Fans of German football are already starting to ask when will the next Bundesliga season start. The answer: in one months-time, near the end of September.

Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho left with his team for a pre-season training camp in Switzerland on Monday with the German club saying the talented player would stay after a contract extension to 2023.

Sancho has been the target of several top clubs with ongoing speculation of a possible transfer to the English Premier League.

"We plan on having Jadon Sancho in our team this season, the decision is final. I think that answers all our questions," Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc told reporters in Switzerland.

Julian Nagelsmann is the youngest head coach to take a team to the Champions League quarterfinals but any suggestion he or his RB Leipzig players will be out of their depth against Atletico Madrid should be quickly dismissed.

The 33-year-old will take the German upstarts into new territory on Thursday and admits a meeting with Atletico counterpart Diego Simeone will be a tough proposition.

17-year-old English phenom Jude Bellingham has officially transferred from Birmingham City to Borussia Dortmund as of Monday.

The young midfielder has been making waves for himself in the Championship and proving to be a bundle of potential. His style of play is quick and creative, and Bellingham is known for his ability to get out of tight situations in a pinch and his ability to see the field. 

The Ballon d'Or will not be awarded this year for the first time in its 64-year history after the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the football calendar, organizers France Football magazine said on Monday.

The prestigious award, voted for by journalists, is an annual prize given to the best male footballer in the world since 1956. The women's Ballon d'Or was first awarded in 2018.

Borussia Dortmund’s 2019/20 season is over. Erling Haaland, the 19-year-old phenom who scored 16 goals in his first 18 BVB appearances, is free to do whatever he damn well pleases as a teenager that makes around $170,000 per week. That’s my take as an old poor boy. 

But his dad — as all dads are wont to do — sees it differently.

BERLIN — Top-flight German soccer club Union Berlin is so keen to see its stadium filled with fans once again that it is prepared to pay for coronavirus tests for all staff and 22,012 season ticket holders so that they can safely pack the stands.

Most of the world's stadiums have been all but empty for months since the advent of the new-style coronavirus forced social distancing regulations that prevented the kinds of giant crowd gatherings that lend soccer games their ambiance.