Although the youth Bundesligas are on Easter break, the majority of Borussia Dortmund's U19 and U17 players have nonetheless been in action with their national teams over the past few days. The BVB U17s also won a friendly match 2-1 away to Rasenballsport Leipzig.

Paris Brunner and Almugera Kabar, Dortmund's U17 European and World champions, made their debut for the German U18 national team at a four-nation tournament in Pintar (Spain). Germany got the tournament started with a 1-0 win against the Netherlands. Brunner was substituted off in the 80th minute and Kabar came on in the 68th minute. Both played the full 90 minutes in the subsequent 0-0 draw with England (which England won 5-3 on penalties). Kabar converted his penalty safely. Brunner was Germany's most dangerous attacking player.

"I think our performance was largely positive. It's fun to work with the boys," summarised Germany coach Hanno Balitsch ahead of the team's final appearance against the Czech Republic (Monday). Kjell Wätjen withdrew from the squad because he is concentrating on his final exams.

Rafael Lubach is BVB's representative in the Germany U19s, who are competing in the second European Championship qualifying tournament in Croatia. The young German side failed to qualify for the European Championship finals after losing 3-2 to Romania. Lubach, who played the entire match in the 2-1 opening defeat against Croatia, was substituted on in the 53rd minute.

The Germany U17s started their European Championship qualifying tournament in Braga (Portugal) as defending champions with a 3-3 draw against Croatia. Borussia centre-back Tyler Meiser had to come off in the 88th minute with an injury. The team celebrated a 2-0 win over Ireland in their second match, and will finish the tournament against Portugal on Tuesday. The group winners and the seven best runners-up from the groups will secure a place in the final tournament in Cyprus.

Goalkeeper Silas Ostrzinski was a late call-up by Germany U20s coach Hannes Wolf for two friendly matches against France. His team won the first 3-1 in Oliva Nova, Spain, with Tom Rothe, who is on loan at Holstein Kiel from BVB, among the goalscorers.

Danylo Krevsun's opening goal paved the way for the Ukraine U19 national team to beat North Macedonia 2-0 in the first match of the European Championship qualifying tournament. Krevsun was also one of the team's stand-out players in the subsequent 2-0 win over Latvia. Ukraine will face Switzerland on Tuesday to decide who wins the group.

Borussia U19 captain Filippo Mane made a successful start to European Championship qualifiers with Italy, winning 3-1 against Scotland.

Cole Campbell, who previously played for Iceland, is about to make his debut for the USA U19 national team, who will play two friendlies against England (Sunday) and Mexico (Tuesday).

Thierry Fidjeu-Tazemeta from Borussia's U17s played 66 minutes for Austria in their 2-0 win over Slovenia in the European Championship qualifying tournament. The attacker was replaced in the 69th minute of their 2-2 draw against Norway.

William Rashidi was part of the Sweden U18 squad that defeated Romania 1-0 in a friendly.

Lehmann: "A top-class friendly match"

Borussia's U17s made the most of the weekend to play a friendly away to Rasenballsport Leipzig, which could be a preview of the semi-finals of the German championship in May. For this to happen, BVB would have to retain their second-place position in the Bundesliga West table in the last four matchdays and Leipzig would have to win the championship in the North/North-East division.

The returning striker Diego Ngambia Dzonga, who had been out for almost five months, gave BVB a 1-0 lead. Viggo Gebel equalised for the hosts in the 31st minute before Ousmane Diallo sealed the win for BVB in the 51st minute. Coach Marco Lehmann had to do without Luca Reggiani and Thierry Fidjeu-Tazemeta, who had been called up to their national teams. Luca Riedl (illness) and Nick Cherny (school trip) were also absent.

"It was an intense and high-class friendly over 90 minutes. We found good solutions against a high-pressing opposition. The first half was good, the second very good. The great effort was worth it," summarised Lehmann. In the second half, U15 player Fadi Zarqelein made a promising debut. Preparation for the Bundesliga match away to 1. FC Köln (6 April) will start on Tuesday after Easter.

BVB: Herdes (63, Held)- Cena (46, Mahjoubi), Benkara, Degener (63, Wörsdörfer), Feddersen - Blaszczyk (63, Nwofor), Fleck (46, Zarqelain), Hoy (63, Kaba) - Diallo, Ngambia (46, Burstedde), Schwarz

(wiwi)