The opening night of the newly formatted UEFA Europa League brought a stark mix of fortunes for high-profile German internationals and national team candidates, highlighted by an impressive scoring debut for Nick Woltemade at Juventus and a bitter defeat for debutant Mika Baur at Celtic, according to match reports from Sport1.
For national team goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, the European campaign began with a stress-free evening. Sport1 reports that Nübel played the full 90 minutes in goal for Beşiktaş Istanbul as they secured a commanding 4-1 victory over Olympique Marseille. Nübel was left completely chancenlos—powerless—when Marseille’s Keyliane Abdallah found the net in the 29th minute, but the Turkish side cruised to a comfortable win. The result sets a strong tone for Nübel ahead of Germany’s upcoming Nations League fixtures, where he is slated to feature in matches against the Netherlands and Greece under national team manager Jürgen Klopp.
It was a different story for DFB newcomer Mika Baur. The 22-year-old midfielder, who transferred from SC Paderborn to Scotland over the summer, scored his first European goal for Celtic Glasgow in the 44th minute against Ferencváros Budapest. According to Sport1, Baur’s strike briefly leveled the match at 1-1, but it ultimately proved insufficient as Celtic fell to a 1-3 defeat. Despite the loss, Baur remains firmly in Klopp’s plans for the second block of Nations League matches in October against Serbia and Greece.
In another notable European fixture detailed by Sport1, former Bundesliga manager Marco Rose guided his current club, AFC Bournemouth, to a 2-1 victory over Pellegrino Matarazzo and Real Sociedad. Bournemouth established a 2-0 halftime lead before holding off the Spanish side. The win marks a historic milestone, launching the English club successfully into the first European campaign in their institutional history.
Meanwhile, Nick Woltemade delivered a standout performance in Turin. Making his first start in the Juventus starting eleven, the national team striker converted a penalty kick to anchor a comprehensive 5-0 thrashing of NEC Nijmegen, as documented by Sport1.
Next up, these players will return to domestic league action before reassembling for Jürgen Klopp’s national team squad ahead of the international window later this month.
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