Mesut Özil (Arsenal) gave the World Cup winners of 2014 the lead on 11 minutes in Klagenfurt on Saturday night before the Austrians, coached by former Bayer 04 player and full of Bundesliga stars, turned the game round in the second half – much to the annoyance of Joachim Löw: "I'm disappointed with the defeat as we didn't do a lot of what we set out to. We had a decent first half but then we increasingly lost our way and nothing went right after that," said the Germany coach after the game. Martin Hinteregger (FC Augsburg) levelled on 53 minutes with Alessandro Schöpf (FC Schalke) putting the hosts ahead on 69 minutes.
The match kicked off at 19.43 instead of 18.00 due to severe weather conditions with the fixture briefly under threat of being abandoned. Leverkusen's Julian Brandt started on the right side of midfield but the 22-year-old failed to convert chances on 20 and 39 minutes thereby missing the chance to score his second goal in his fourteenth international appearance before being replaced by Timo Werner on 67 minutes. "I was determined to do my best. I could have put one or two chances away," said Brandt. The Werkself number ten is relaxed ahead of the announcement of the final Germany squad: „"I'm relatively relaxed and I'll wait and see what happens on Monday."
Brandt was not the only Werkself player to appear in front of the 30,000 crowd at the Wörthersee Stadium. The hosts were skippered by Julian Baumgartlinger in defensive midfield for the full 90 minutes and Aleksandar Dragovic , recently on loan at Leicester City, played in a back three. Both were able to celebrate the first Austria win against Germany since 1986. "The decisive factor was we wanted it more in the second half," was the verdict of Austria captain Baumgartlinger.
With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
Show more
A successful fourth preseason friendly ahead of the start of the training camp: The Werkself secured a 3-0 victory over Rot-Weiss Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The goals in what was a commanding and dominant performance by Leverkusen from the outset were scored by Ibrahim Maza (8'), Patrik Schick from the penalty spot (23’) and, in the second half, Montrell Culbreath with a header (79’). The team set off for their training camp in Blankenhain in the Weimarer Land region after the game.
Show more
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
Show more
You have voted – your ‘Team of the Quarter-Century’ has been decided! This historic selection, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2024, features honorary captains, Bundesliga champions, double winners and Champions League finalists. Edmond Tapsoba is the only player from the current Bayer 04 squad to make it into the starting XI, while his team-mate Patrik Schick is on the bench. Simon Rolfes, the current managing director sport, is also in the lie-up. A truly special team that brings together a quarter of a century of Bayer 04 history – and has left a decisive mark on the club.
Show more
Following Patrik Schick, Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Kerim Alajbegovic earlier this week, the next World Cup participant is back on the training ground in Leverkusen: On Thursday 30 July, Malik Tillman rejoined the squad, completing his first training session under head coach Carles Martínez.
Show more
