Socceroo Matthew Spiranovic endured a nightmare return to the FC Nurnberg starting eleven as the Bavarian club were thumped 4-0 by Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga overnight.The 21-year-old defender, who was making his first appearance for Nurnberg since November last year, was stunned as Leverkusen grabbed a three goal lead before the break.
It started in the 2nd minute, when the referee awarded a controversial free-kick to Leverkusen after Spiranovic and Stefan Kiessling came together. From the resulting free-kick, Toni Kroos fired the hosts ahead.
Rattled by the early goal, Nurnberg tried to fight back with Dario Vidosic testing German international goalkeeper Rene Adler with a 14th minute header.
But Leverkusen doubled their lead on 27 minutes via Simon Rolfes' penalty, after Joe Mnari's foul in the box, before Eren Derdiyok made it 3-0 on 34 minutes with a close-range finish after some ugly defending by Nurnberg.
The visitors attempted to come back into the match but the first-half deficit was too great and Kiessling scored Leverkusen's fourth after 68 minutes with his head.
Spiranovic and Vidosic both played full matches in the defeat, with the latter flying home today to Australia for the upcoming matches with the Netherlands and Oman.
The result leaves Nurnberg second-last on the Bundesliga table, with bottom club Hertha to play on Sunday. Nurnberg's next match is in a fortnight against Hertha.
In the Scottish Premier League, recently called-up Australian Danny Invincibile scored his first goal of the season for Kilmarnock with a low drive as they drew 1-1 with Aberdeen.
Elsewhere in the SPL, James Wesolowski played a full game while Trent McClenahan started before being substituted just after the hour as Hamilton Accies lost 2-0 at home to newly promoted St Johnstone.
In the Scottish First Division, Simon Storey's return to old club Partick Thistle didn't go well as Airdrie lost 2-0. Fellow Aussie Frankie Lagana started and played 69 minutes for Airdrie too.
In the Dutch Eredivisie, Socceroo Brett Holman played 70 minutes helping AZ Alkmaar end a run of three losses as they defeated NAC Breda 1-0.
In the Italian Serie B, Carl Valeri's availability for the upcoming Socceroos matches is in doubt after he was substituted at half-time in Grosseto's 2-0 loss at Mantova. It is believed Valeri has a muscle problem.
In the Korean K-League, Sasa Ognenovski scored his first goal for Seongnam Ilhwa as they defeated Gangwon FC 3-0. Ognenovski played a full game in defence as Seongnam strengthen their playoffs spot.
In the Japanese J.League, Eddy Bosnar wasn't in the JEF United Chiba side which suffered a 3-1 loss at Urawa Reds. United's hopes of survival are getting increasingly remote.
In the Romanian Liga I, defender Josh Mitchell put in another full shift after a hernia injury as Universitatea Craiova defeated Unirea Alba Iulia 3-1. Spase Dilevski was suspended while there was no Joshua Rose or Michael Baird.
In the Greek Super League, Zeljko Kalac's Kavala lost 2-1 at Giannina although the Aussie stopper did not play. Nor did fellow Aussies Rob Stambolziev and Apostoli Giannou.
In the Croatian Prva HNL, Josip Skoko's Hajduk Split continued their resurgence up the table with a 1-0 win at Istra. Skoko, though, did not play.
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