Borussia Dortmund have opened talks with Bayern Munich over the return of Mario Gotze, Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has confirmed.

Northern Ireland 0 Germany 1: Defeat on the night for Northern Ireland but it was one that ended with history being written as Michael O’Neill’s side advanced to the knockout stages of Euro 2016 thanks to the heroics of Michael McGovern and a Turkish win in Lens.

An own goal from Adam Lang and a second-half effort from Thomas Muller saw a dominant Germany side defeat Hungary 2-0 at Schalke's Veltins-Arena home today.

None of Ireland’s group opponents at Euro 2016 won their respective friendlies last night. It was a particularly chastening night for Italy as the Azzurri lost 4-1 against world champions Germany in Munich.

Louis van Gaal has backed Anthony Martial to end his goal drought and help Manchester United avoid an embarrassingly early Champions League exit.

Robert Lewandowski’s incredible goalscoring form continued as the striker’s hat-trick helped Bayern Munich thrash Dinamo Zagreb 5-0.

European champions Barcelona saw their perfect start to the season ended after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in Wednesday’s Champions League Group E opener.

Scotland 2 Germany 3: Scotland would probably have settled for two goals against the world champions before this Euro 2016 Group D qualifier kicked off but, crucially, the three they conceded leaves them behind Ireland in the playoff hunt.

Germany 3 Poland 1: Germany followed the example of Georgia last night by doing the Ireland a major favour in the Euro qualification pursuit.

Northern Ireland took a major stride towards their first major finals since 1986 tonight.

Three days on from the 76th anniversary of Germany invading Poland, a movement of sorts has occurred in the opposite direction for tonight’s top-of-the-table Group D tie in Frankfurt (7.45pm).

Euro 2016 Qualifier Group D

Manager Pep Guardiola says he opted to play the most offensive formation of his career as Bayern Munich put seven past hapless Shakhtar Donetsk to march to the Champions League quarter-finals.

Barcelona avenged their September defeat in the French capital by beating Paris St Germain 3-1 at Camp Nou to claim top spot in Champions League Group F.

Jurgen Klopp joked he was on holiday in north London and that the Champions League was a welcome distraction from the nightmare period his side are encountering in the Bundesliga.

Schalke always have three managers, their supporters will tell you: the last one, the present one and the next one.

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique says he is honoured to be Lionel Messi’s coach after the Argentinean became the top goalscorer in Primera Division history.

Germany picked up their obligatory group win over Gibraltar but the expected flurry of goals failed to arrive as they only managed to score four without reply in Nuremberg.

David Forde reflects on the sometimes hard road he’s travelled to be Ireland’s No. 1 in Glasgow tonight

Germany’s general manager Oliver Bierhoff believes Marco Reus may well ignore the advances of Bayern Munich and Manchester City by staying with Borussia Dortmund next season.

Lionel Messi equalled Raul’s record of 71 Champions League goals with a brace to earn Barcelona a 2-0 win over Ajax in Group F last night.

Germany coach Joachim Low said his team had been “naive” in conceding a late equaliser to the Republic of Ireland last night.

German football is like the German economy. Both are normally so strong that an upset can be magnified into a potential crisis, writes David Shonfield.

Poland 2 Germany 0

Midfielder Fernandinho is convinced Manchester City can be competitive in the Champions League despite their opening loss at Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich 1 Manchester City 0

Former Manchester City defender Jerome Boateng struck a superb late winner as Bayern Munich finally beat Joe Hart to secure a 1-0 win in their Champions League opener.

On the same night a Glaswegian gave Scotland’s Euro 2016 Group D play-off rivals a boost in Tbilisi, how Gordon Strachan could have done with Aiden McGeady’s wizardry against World champions Germany.

Scotland put up a spirited show in their first Euro 2016 qualifying match, going down 2-1 to world champions Germany.

Germany 2 Argentina 4

Angel di Maria inspired Argentina on a Dusseldorf mission over their World Cup final conquerors Germany as the Manchester United new boy scored once and set up three goals in a 4-2 victory.

Germany and Argentina lock horns tonight in a repeat of July’s World Cup final but international retirements and injuries mean Joachim Low and Gerardo Martino will field much-changed sides from that memorable night in Rio.

Rose Jacobs asks: Is this the start of a century of German success?

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again. This seems to be key in any great sporting triumph.

"A healthy dressing room is worth more than 100 hours of tactics," declared Vicente Del Bosque as he and his team prepared to jet off to Brazil to defend their title.

Claiming a fourth World Cup title wasn’t enough for Germany, as they helped to set a host of social media records during their 1-0 victory over Argentina in the World Cup final.

Rihanna showed her support for Germany in last night's FIFA World Cup final clash with Argentina.

Thousands of Argentine football fans gathered on the golden sands of Copacabana beach gasped and then fell into silence when Germany scored a stunning extra-time goal to claim the World Cup title.

Joachim Low inspired Mario Gotze to win the World Cup for Germany by telling him to show the world he was better than Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

The singing stops, Leo Messi is stifled, and a bad moon rises for Argentina.