After Saturday's 3-0 defeat to the Netherlands, Germany lost for a second time in succession on Tuesday night: In spite of a brave performance against World Cup winners France, the Germany team under coach Joachim Löw lost 2-1 in Paris. With a reshuffled line-up, Germany took the lead on 14 minutes when former Leverkusen midfielder Toni Kroos converted a penalty but they missed the opportunity to extend their lead. Two goals in the last 30 minutes from Antoine Griezmann (62', 80' pen.) sealed a somewhat unfortunate defeat for the German team who are now unable to be certain of remaining in Group A1 under their own steam. Werkself pro Julian Brandt came off the bench in the closing stages of the game at the Stade de France in the French capital – he replaced Matthias Ginter on 83 minutes but was unable to effect the outcome of the match. As on Saturday, team-mate Jonathan Tah remained on the subs bench for the full 90 minutes and therefore still has to wait to make his fourth full international appearance.
Aleksandar Dragovic also returns to Leverkusen on the back of a defeat. The 27-year-old Austrian was on the wrong end of 2-0 reverse in a friendly away to Denmark on Tuesday night. The Werkself number six was played from the start by the Austria coach Franco Foda and he went the full distance. Issac Kiese Thelin did not play in Sweden's 1-1 draw with Slovakia.
There was better luck for Sam Schreck: Following his debut for the Germany U20 team on Friday, the forward started against Switzerland in the U20 Elite League on Tuesday afternoon and he promptly repaid the confidence shown in him: With 16 minutes on the clock, he made it 2-0 with a long-range effort. The Germany junior side under coach Mikel Schönweitz ran out 3-2 winners in the match in Emden.
Jakub Bednarczyk and the Poland junior team lost 4-1 to the Netherlands in the U20 Elite League. The Werkself pro played on the left side of the back four for the full 90 minutes.
The day before, Lukas Hradecky and Finland celebrated a 2-0 victory over Greece in the Nations League. The Werkself number one kept another clean sheet in the new European competition: He did not concede in the fourth group match as he played his part in ensuring the Eagle Owls (on 12 points) have one foot in the play-offs with two games to play in Group C2 – ahead of Greece (6), Hungary (4) and Estonia (1).
Tin Jedvaj also completed the October international break with a win. On Monday night, Croatia beat Jordan 2-1 in a friendly. The 22-year-old World Cup runner-up, who played the full 90 minutes in the 0-0 draw with England in the Nations League on Friday (Group A4), was brought on with 64 minutes on the clock.
Paulinho was the third Werkself pro in action on Monday. In a 2-2 draw in a friendly for the Brazil U20s against Chile, the 18-year-old came off the bench in the second half for the second time in three days.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on the 20th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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