Schalke 04
(Germany), Milan AC (Italy), Borussia Dortmund (Germany),
Arsenal FC (England)
Honours
1997
UEFA Cup winner (Schalke 04) 2002 Bundesliga Champions (Borussia Dortmund) 2004 Premiership Champions (Arsenal FC) 2004 Charity Shield winner (Arsenal FC) 2002 UEFA Cup Finals (Borussia Dortmund)
Biography
Jens Lehmann (born November 10, 1969 in Essen) is a German
football goalkeeper who currently plays for Arsenal.
Lehmann started his career in 1989 with Schalke 04, playing for
them for nearly a decade. He was the club's hero in their 1997
UEFA Cup final victory over Internazionale, saving an Ivan
Zamorano penalty in a penalty shootout. He left Schalke for AC
Milan in 1998, but did not play well and was dropped after just
five matches. He returned to Germany to play for Borussia
Dortmund, winning the Bundesliga in 2001-2002. He joined Arsenal
on July 25, 2003, and in his first season at the club, won the
Premier League without a single loss.
Lehmann has a confident, aggressive style of play, often coming
out of his goal to intercept passes; however this has led to
some costly high-profile mistakes when playing for Arsenal, such
as their 2004 UEFA Champions League quarter-final loss to
Chelsea. By the middle of the 2004-05 season, Lehmann was no
longer automatic first-choice, with Manuel Almunia being
selected for some matches instead. However, Almunia then began
to make many mistakes himself, allowing Lehmann to regain his
position. At the end of that season, Lehmann produced a man-of-the-match
performance against Manchester United in the 2005 FA Cup final,
making numerous saves to keep the score 0-0 after extra time,
and then crucially saving Paul Scholes' shot in the penalty
shootout, which Arsenal won 5-4.
Lehmann is the second-choice goalkeeper for the German national
team. He has a well-publicised rivalry with Oliver Kahn, whose
presence has long prevented Lehmann from becoming the number one
goalkeeper for Germany. Lehmann made his debut for the national
team against Oman in February 1998, and has since earned over
twenty caps for his country.
