Brazil U23s win thanks to Paulinho strike

While the Bayer 04 players who appeared at the Benteler Arena were gradually able to dedicate themselves to getting a well-deserved night’s sleep, Paulinho was just getting going. In the early hours of Monday, the Leverkusen player was on the pitch with his Brazil U23 team-mates at 02.30 CET. In the Colombian city of Quindío, the Selecao youngsters played the Peru U23s in the South American qualifying tournament for the 2020 Olympics (from 24 July in Tokyo, Japan).

The 19-year-old Werkself player produced an impressive display – and he scored the only goal of the game to secure victory in the opening match. After 43 minutes, the midfielder netted the winner from a tight angle. In contrast, RB Leipzig’s Matheus Cunha missed out. The top scorer in the current Olympic squad with nine goals in eleven games complained of feeling unwell in the night before the game. Augsburg’s Iago did not feature either.

The ten South American U23 teams are split up into two groups. After the group stage, the two best teams play each other up to 9 February for two places at the Tokyo games. Brazil’s next group opponents on Thursday 23 January (kick-off: 2.30 CET) are Uruguay who also won 1-0 in their opening game against Paraguay.

Nomination for Volland

Kevin Volland scored one more than Paulinho in the game against SC Paderborn. With the fastest double of his career (11 & 14 minutes) the Bayer 04 striker set up the first win in 2020. The BILD Zeitung named the 27-year-old in their team of the week for his impressive performance against the team from East Westphalia. No other Werkself players were included in the top eleven.

Bayer 04 in second place

Thanks to the win at Paderborn, the Peter Bosz team are back in sixth place in the table. A look at the away form table is even better from a Werkself perspective: Bayer 04 are second with 18 points after nine games on the road. Only league leaders RB Leipzig are better off with an additional two points. The Werkself have the chance to work on their home form next Sunday(26 January). Fortuna Düsseldorf are the visitors with the game kicking off at 18.00 CET.

Calmund on podcast

‘Calli’ on the mike! The longstanding football official, general manager and CEO of Bayer 04, Reiner Calmund is the guest tonight on the ‘Kicker meets DAZN’ podcast. The Bundesliga stalwart will be talking with the presenters Benni Zander and Alex Schlüter about the winter transfer window. The interview will be available at kicker.de and on all the usual platforms.

In addition: Any fans of podcasts might well enjoy the Werkself podcast. Former Bayer 04 players like Falko Götz and Ulf Kirsten plus current players like Sven Bender and Jonathan Tah discuss a range of issues relating to the club under the Bayer Cross.