Jens Lehmann

Jens Lehmann (International Phonetic Alphabet—German ) (born November 10 1969 in Essen, Germany) is a Germany football (soccer) goalkeeper who currently plays for Arsenal F.C. and for the Germany national football team. He was voted Best European Goalkeeper twice in his career, and he has been selected for three FIFA World Cup squads.

Club career

Schalke 04

Lehmann started his career in 1989 with FC Schalke 04, playing for them for nearly a decade. His first years were rocky, notably a 45-minute stint against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1993 in which he conceded three goals and was subbed after 45 minutes, causing him to flee the stadium alone by tram rather than taking the team bus, but gradually established himself as a strong keeper lauded for his ability to intercept crosses.

He scored his first league goal on 12 March 1995 in a 6-2 victory over TSV 1860 München; in the 84th minute, he scored Schalke's 6th goal from the penalty spot. His second goal was scored on 19 December 1997, a last-minute equaliser against Borussia Dortmund, Schalke's rivals and the club he would join just fourteen months later.

Lehmann became the Ruhr Area club's hero in their 1997 UEFA Cup final victory over Internazionale Milano F.C., after playing a strong season and saving an Ivan Zamorano penalty in a kicks from the penalty mark.

A.C. Milan

He left Schalke for A.C. Milan in 1998, but did not play well and was dropped after just five matches.

Borussia Dortmund

He returned to Germany to play for Borussia Dortmund, winning the Bundesliga (football) in Fußball-Bundesliga 2001/02. A fiery personality with a poor disciplinary record, he holds the Bundesliga record for the number of sendings-off for a goalkeeper (five).

Arsenal

Lehmann joined Arsenal F.C. on July 25, 2003 as a replacement for David Seaman, and played every match as Arsenal went unbeaten for the entire 2003-04 Premier League campaign, becoming the first English club to accomplish this feat since the 1880s. However, Lehmann's style of play, often coming out of his goal to intercept passes occasionally led to mistakes, such as in the title-winning match at local rivals Tottenham Hotspur F.C. when Lehmann pushed Tottenham striker Robbie Keane as the pair waited for a Tottenham corner, and made mistakes that led to both goals in Arsenal's Champions League defeat at home to Chelsea the same season.He helped Arsenal F.C. to keep its national record of longest unbeaten league run (49 league matches unbeaten) when he stopped a penalty kick against Everton F.C. in the last minutes of the match on January 7, 2004. The match ended 1-1 and Arsenal continued unbeaten until October 24, 2004 when they lost 2-0 to Manchester United F.C..

By the middle of the 2004-05 in English football season, Lehmann was no longer automatic first-choice, with Spaniard Manuel Almunia starting in several matches instead. However, Almunia made a series of mistakes himself, thus allowing Lehmann to regain his position. At the end of that season, as speculation again began to mount that he would be replaced over the summer, Lehmann cemented his position in the Arsenal goal with a man-of-the-match performance against Manchester United F.C. in the 2005 FA Cup final. He made several important saves and demonstrated great positional sense to keep the score 0-0 after extra time, and then crucially saved Paul Scholes' shot in the penalty shootout, which Arsenal won 5-4.

Lehmann had an outstanding 2005-06 in English football with Arsenal, making his 100th Premier League appearance for the club in their game against West Bromwich Albion F.C. on April 15 2006. He was a key factor in his side's first-ever accession to the UEFA Champions League final; during their run Arsenal broke the record for the most consecutive Shutout in the Champions League with ten, breaking the record of seven that Milan had set just one year before. That run formed the bulk of an 853-minute spell without conceding a goal, overtaking the CL record for an individual goalkeeper set by Edwin van der Sar.

Bayern Munich's Hasan Salihamidžić had been the last to net against Lehmann, in the 64th minute of a quarter-final first leg match on March 22 2005; Lehmann kept a clean sheet in the second leg, and then a further seven during Arsenal's run in 2005-06 (Almunia played in the other three matches); the final clean sheet was earned in the semi-finals against Villarreal CF, after Lehmann saved an 89th minute Juan Román Riquelme penalty kick. Lehmann maintained his shutout run despite an ignominious end to his 2006 UEFA Champions League Final against FC Barcelona; with the score still at 0-0 he was sent off in the 18th minute for a professional foul after bringing down Samuel Eto'o, making him the first player and goalkeeper to ever be sent off in a Champions League final, but it did not stop him from being named the Champions League Goalkeeper of the Year for the 2005-06 season after going more than 500 minutes without conceding a goal.

His remarkable run was finally ended on September 13 2006 by Hamburger SV's Boubacar Sanogo, who scored a consolation goal in the 89th minute of Arsenal's first group stage match of the UEFA Champions League 2006-07 Champions League season.

Lehmann's contract at Arsenal was due to expire in summer 2007 and during the 2006-07 in English football season there was much speculation he would leave the club on a Bosman ruling transfer. However it was reported on April 26 2007 that he had signed a year's extension on his contract, tying him to the club until 2008.

In the first league game of the 2007-08 season, Lehmann made a horrendous error after just 52 seconds, allowing David Healy to score for Fulham FC. However, Lehmann's blushes were spared late in the game as Arsenal won 2-1; in his second league match against Blackburn Rovers FC he fumbled a David Dunn shot to allow Blackburn to equalise, in a game that finished 1-1. On August 24, the BBC reported that he returned to Germany to treat an Achilles tendon injury which he picked up during international duty against England national football team, meaning Manuel Almunia took his place for Arsenal's third match.

International career

Lehmann made his debut for the national team against Oman national football team in February 1998 and has since earned 39 (as of 16 August2006) Cap (football) for his country, most of which were friendlies. He has a well-publicised rivalry with Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, whose presence has long prevented Lehmann from becoming the number one goalkeeper of the Germany national football team. On April 72006, however, German national coach Jürgen Klinsmann announced that Lehmann would be Germany's first-choice goalkeeper for the upcoming 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Lehmann conceded two goals in Germany's opening match, both scored by Costa Rica national football team Paulo Wanchope although Germany won the match 4-2. Lehmann played strongly in the next three games, conceding no goals and allowing Germany to sweep their group 3-0-0 and defeat Sweden convincingly in the Round of 16. Lehmann's shutout streak was broken by Argentina in the quarterfinals, but his team found the equalizer late in the game and Lehmann stopped two shots in the penalty shootout.

Germany's opponent in the semifinals was Italy. The Italians had the better chances to score but Lehmann made several spectacular saves, including one in extra time where he dove out of goal to intercept an Italian player who had broken loose from the defence, punching the ball clear with his fist and temporarily knocking out the Italian in the process. He allowed two goals within a minute of each other with only a few seconds remaining in overtime. However neither of these goals could be blamed on Lehmann, but were caused by Germany's defence playing high up the pitch. These goals put Italy into the World Cup final. The retiring Oliver Kahn was given the honour of starting in the third place match, with which Lehmann was content.

The highlight of Lehmann's international career came in the 2006 World Cup quarterfinal match (30 June 2006, Olympiastadion, Berlin) against Argentina. The game remained tied 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra time. The game came down to penalty kicks and Lehmann carried his team through. He made two critical saves of Argentinian penalty kicks, one from Roberto Ayala and another from Esteban Cambiasso, and came close to saving a third. Meanwhile, the Germans made all of the necessary goals to win the penalty kicks 4-2. Lehmann's prowess in the shootout was aided by notes given to him before the kicks — an idea from Germany's chief scout, Swiss-born :de:Urs Siegenthaler — with Lehmann keeping the paper in his right sock. Before the last shot from Cambiasso, Lehmann looked at the paper for a long time even though Cambiasso's name was not even on it. The story around the paper features in the film "Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen".
Lehmann was considered a hero by the German public after these saves, and he received praise even from long-time rival Oliver Kahn.

In August 2006 Lehmann revealed that during the World Cup he was suffering with a foot injury that he claims was a result of wearing different boots. The German Football Association ordered their players to wear only those manufactured by principal sponsor Adidas as opposed to Lehmann's sponsor Nike, Inc.. (Defender Christian Wörns had been dropped from the national team in 2005 after refusing to train in Adidas boots.) This has now been overturned thanks to Lehmann and several other players protesting about the decision and the players are now free to wear boots made by other companies.

In August 2006, Lehmann suggested that he may retire from league and international football after playing for Germany in Euro 2008. However, he subsequently stated in January 2007 that he has not made any decision on retirement.

Honours

With FC Schalke 04
- UEFA Cup: 1996/97

With Borussia Dortmund
- Bundesliga: 2002

With Arsenal F.C.
- Premier League: 2003/04
- FA Cup: 2005
- Community Shield: 2004
- UEFA Champions League: runners-up 2005/06
- Amsterdam Tournament: 2007
- Emirates Cup: 2007

International
- World Cup: runner-up 2002

Indvidual
- Best European Goalkeeper: 1997, 2006
- UEFA Club Football Awards: Best Goalkeeper 2005-2007
- IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper: 2nd Place (2006)

Career statistics (1998-present)