
"I'm assuming he will be able to play tomorrow," said head coach Heiko Herrlich referring to his captain. The same applies to Lukas Hradecky who has served a one-match ban for picking up two yellow cards in the Europa League qualifier on 6 August 2015 when he was playing for Bröndby IF. The 28-year-old shot-stopper and Bayer 04 received the surprise news in the past few days. "We received an e-mail from UEFA last week where they confirmed the suspension has now lapsed and that I can play tomorrow," said Hradecky before departure .
After two and a half hours, around 16.00 local time, the Werkself charter plane landed at the airport in Varna. The squad then travelled on the team bus to their hotel in Rasgrad, which is a ten-minute drive away from the Ludogarets Arena.
This evening brings the usual pre-match press conference and final training session ahead of the Europa League opener against Ludogorets Rasgrad (20 September, 21.00 CET).


Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed 16-year-old midfield prospect Gabriel Minutillo on a long-term contract. The Germany youth international will play for the U19s this season.
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Bayer 04 Women rounded off their one-week training camp in the Upper Palatinate with their second friendly win of pre-season. Coach Roberto Pätzold's side beat Czech top-flight outfit Slovan Liberec 6-0 in a match consisting of 4 x 30 minutes. Maja Sternad (8'), Caroline Kehrer (55'), Natasha Kowalski (67', 84') with two direct free kicks, Valentina Mädl (97') and Justine Brandau (107') scored the goals for Leverkusen at 1.FC Rieden's Fenstertechnik-Weinfurtner-Arena.
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