From Dresden to number 1,000, Mika Baur enters the history of Germany’s national football team

Mika Baur entered the history of German football the moment he replaced Tom Bischof in the 77th minute last night.

The former Dynamo Dresden player became the 1,000th footballer to represent Germany’s senior national team. For the 22-year-old, who now plays for Celtic Glasgow, this moment marked the culmination of an extraordinary journey: from Dresden, through Paderborn and Scotland, to the DFB team.

Immediately after coming onto the pitch as a substitute, Baur apparently had no idea that it was precisely he who had reached this historic milestone. Only after the end of the match did the midfielder learn of the special significance of his debut, a historic moment that he himself could not fully process at first.

The first player to represent Germany was Fritz Baumgarten. The goalkeeper of the Berlin club BFC Germania 1888 was part of the squad in the 3-5 defeat against Switzerland in Basel on 5 April 1908.

He is considered the first debutant because of alphabetical order. For Baumgarten, that remained his only international appearance.