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26.07.2016Bayer 04

Bayer 04 face FC Porto on Wednesday

The Werkself are making steady progress towards the crucial phase of the preseason. It's off to the summer training camp in Austria at Well am See but first comes a friendly against FC Porto on Wednesday night in a true test for Roger Schmidt and his squad. The match against the Portuguese giants at the Belkaw Arena in Bergisch Gladbach kicks off at 18.00 CET.
© Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fussball GmbH

FC Porto are currently on an eleven-day training camp at the Kamen-Kaiserau Sports Centre near Dortmund. Their squad includes internationally famous players like Iker Casillas, Hector Herrera and Ruben Neves. FC Porto have regularly played European football for years. They lifted the European Cup in 1987 and the Champions League in 2004 plus the UEFA Cup and the Europa League (2003, 2011). Porto have won the Portuguese league 31 times and 16 domestic cup competitions.

The team us managed by Nuno Santo. The young Portuguese coach is successor to Julen Lopetegui who is moving to manage the Spanish national team. Under Lopetegui FC Porto finished third in the league behind Benfica and Sporting Lisbon last term putting them in the play-offs for the Champions League.

Bayer 04 are familiar with that scenario from the previous two Champions League campaigns. This year is a different story with pre-season building up to competitive matches in the DFB Cup and then the Bundesliga. This fifth friendly may give fans the opportunity to see Tin Jedvaj, Admir Mehmedi and Charles Aránguiz plus U19 European Championship players Lukas Boeder and Benny Henrichs in action. All five returned to training this week.

Advice to fans

Hosts SV Bergisch Gladbach 09 have announced that nationwide stadium bans apply to Wednesday night's match against FC Porto at the Belkaw Arena.

© Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fussball GmbH

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