Jens Lehmann is a German football player who completed his career. He acted as a goalkeeper. During his career, he managed to participate in three world football championships.
Biography
Jens Lehmann was born on November 10, 1969. The birthplace was the town of Essen, Germany. He started his career as a football player in the German youth club Heisingen, where he spent three years. Then the player moved to another youth team, Schwartz-Vaib-Essen, which was in his hometown. The player had to defend the gates of the club for a long nine years. The final youth team was Schalke 04, which the player joined in 1987. However, for the youth team he had to play only a year.
Schalke 04
In 1989, Jens Lehmann signed a contract with the core team of Schalke 04. The player will stay in the club for a long eleven years, masterfully defending the goal. For four consecutive years, the German was the main goalkeeper of the club. With him, he was able to reach the final of the UEFA Cup (1996/97) and take the coveted trophy. This season was especially successful for the goalkeeper, and in the end he helped his club to take the Cup, pulling out a penalty in the match against Inter.
After successful performances, Jens Lehmann became one of the best goalkeepers in Germany. He managed to play the first match in the team in February 1998. However, for a long period he was only the third goalkeeper in the national team. For a long time Lehmann could not win the competition with the famous Oliver Kahn. So, at Euro 2000 and at the World Championships, held in 2002, Jens was only the second goalkeeper of the team.
"Milan"
Jens Lehmann, whose biography is filled with interesting transfers, in 1998 received an offer to join the famous Italian Milan. He was invited by the notorious Fabio Capello. Nevertheless, the coach was forced to leave the team at the end of the season. However, Lehmann nevertheless went to Italy.
The German goalkeeper could not gain a foothold in the new team and sat firmly on the bench. For the Milan club, he spent five matches in which he missed 4 goals. At the very first transfer window, Lehmann Jens, a football player whose career inspires many young players, left the ranks of Milan.
"Borussia Dortmund"
In 1999, Lehmann returned to his homeland, but not in Schalke 04, but in Dortmund Borussia. The new goalkeeper did not immediately receive the respect of the fans of the team who had just parted with their favorite goalkeeper. Nevertheless, Jens Lehmann, whose photo was seen in many sports publications that season, helped the team take gold medals in the Bundesliga and also make it to the UEFA Cup final, which was a good indicator for the team.
A bad year for both the team and the player was the 2002/03 season, which brought Borussia only third places in the championship, as well as the second group stage in the Champions League. Jens Lehmann, whose personal life is rarely enough covered by journalists, spent only twenty-four games due to injuries.
"Arsenal"
In the summer of 2003, the coaching staff of the London “Arsenal” began to search for a new goalkeeper. In July, Jens Lehmann joined the ranks of the Gunners. The next season, the German goalkeeper spent on a major note, but still remembered a couple of gross errors. That championship of England “Arsenal” won without suffering a single defeat, which is remembered by many fans (since 1899, no team could end the season in the Premier League without losing). Lehmann also helped the “gunners” to get to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
However, the brightest season for Jens was 2005/06. This period brought Arsenal the first ever Champions League final, and Lehmann himself broke the record for dry matches of Edwin van der Sar himself, which lasted ten years. The beginning of the next season was marked by a new record set by the German goalkeeper (853 dry minutes), which so far no one has been able to beat.
The spring of the same season finally gave Lehmann the first number in the goal of the German national team. At the 2006 World Cup, which took place in his homeland, Jens entered the field as the main goalkeeper. Especially vividly held the match in the quarter finals against Argentina. The semi-finals were decided in a series of penalty shootouts, and Lehmann pulled two penalties, which helped the team reach the next stage of the World Cup.
Stuttgart
In 2008, Lehmann left the ranks of the Gunners and returned to Germany, where he joined Stuttgart. He immediately became the main goalkeeper of the team, which a year before was able to win the Bundesliga gold, and the previous season finished seventh.
The new goalkeeper helped the team get into the UEFA Cup, although Stuttgart failed to get far in it. In the German championship, the team managed to take third place. This result allowed the team to participate in the Champions League next season.
The new season was marked by the game of “Stuttgart” in the prestigious European tournament. The team showed an excellent game and easily reached 1/8. However, at this stage, the German club collided with Barcelona and flew out. Nevertheless, even this result was an excellent indicator for Stuttgart.
The German goalkeeper announced the completion of his football career in 2010.
However, in 2011 he returned to football and joined the London “Arsenal”, which was experiencing problems as a result of injuries to two goalkeepers. In April 2011, he took a place at the gate. Thus, Lehmann became the oldest foreigner in the English league. By the way, the German again broke the Edwin van der Sarah record .
In the summer of the same year, the goalkeeper negotiated with Schalke 04, in which he began his professional career. The club just broke up with Neuer, but the contract was not signed, and Lehmann re-announced the end of his sports career.
Interesting Facts
Speaking for the German “Schalke”, Lehmann was able to score two goals. One of them, by the way, helped the team not to lose.