Lukas Podolski (37) stopped short at his own charity tournament. The former Germany international clashed with the referee, who promptly sent him off the field.
Jens Heylen
Podolski, who collected 130 international matches for Germany in his career and found his way to goal 49 times, is playing for the Polish Gornik Zabrze these days. With that, Podolski took part in his own annual indoor tournament (the Schauinsland Reisen Cup) for the benefit of charity. But during the semi-final against the German Rot-Weiss Essen, things went wrong with a 2-2 score for Podolski, who conspicuously knocked his opponent to the ground. The referee had no choice but to send the former star of Arsenal and Bayern Munich off the field, but that did not pass without anger outbursts from Podolski himself.
The charity raised two million euros for the Podolski foundation, which aims to eradicate child poverty.
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