The joy of playing, passing the ball at will and intense celebration – not just members of the media spoke highly of the performance of the Werkself in the convincing home win against the second best away team in the league before last Saturday's matchday. Following three defeats, the team from Leverkusen hit back impressively and now have as many points from the first three games in the second half of the season as in the three opening matches at the start of the season.
Several Werkself players received top marks for their performances against VfB and were included in teams of the day: The Bild-Zeitung and the Kölnische Rundschau named two-goal Kerem Demirbay and winger Moussa Diaby in their teams of the week, kicker included the duo and Leon Bailey in their team the day. The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger gives top marks to the performances of Demirbay and Diaby with a mark of '1.5'
Head coach Peter Bosz was able to celebrate a personal anniversary at the weekend in addition to the three points: The match against the Swabians was the 100th game as coach at the Werkself for the 57-year-old. Since his appointment on 23 December 2018, the Dutchman has clocked up 58 wins (14 draws). Under his leadership, the Werkself players have scored an impressive 206 goals (and conceded 123).
The total of six of Bosz' predecessors can look back at 100 games in the Leverkusen dugout: Dettmar Cramer (108), Michael Skibbe (123), Erich Ribbeck (124), Roger Schmidt (125) and Christoph Daum (185) are in the top spots behind legend coach Willibert Kremer who leads the ranking with 213 games in charge. The now 81-year-old coached the Werkself from 1976 to 1981 for a total of 2,061 days. It will be interesting to see how many of his predecessors Bosz will be able to overtake…
Like the head coach, his players were able to start the week in buoyant mood. Following the start of the build-up for the next home game against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday 13 February (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Charles Aránguiz and Co. had a PR and Partner day on Monday afternoon.
The players engaged in entertaining social media content, gave TV interviews, made announcements in front of the cameras, and were photographed for the website and web shop. Joining the PR and Partner day for the first time were the three winter signings from the British Isles: Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Jeremie Frimpong took each other on in an ‘eyes quiz’, Demarai Gray was in action at the 'International’ camera position.
With the number one keeper Lukas Hradecky on the second floor at the BayArena, there was a requirement for an absolute top performance in ball control: For a short video clip, he had to shoot the ball with his foot just centimetres away from the camera. But the Finn once again demonstrated that he is absolutely reliable. Job done, off to the the next position…
They are jolly good fellows! Four former Leverkusen players celebrated their birthdays on Monday; Renato Augusto, Hakan Calhanoglu, Bruno Labbadia and Uwe Stöver. Augusto, for the past five years at the top Chinese club Beijing Sinobo Guoan, is 33. While the Brazilian is still waiting for the start of the season with his team, Calhanoglu is in the middle of a title race in Italy: The now 27-year-old signed for AC Milan from Leverkusen in the summer of 2017. The big Italian club are top of the table in Serie A with 49 points. If AC Milan are top of the table at the end of the season then that will be their first league title in ten years.
With Labbadia, a Bosz predecessor is also celebrating his birthday. The 55-year-old coached the Werkself in 2008/09. His time at Leverkusen was followed by appointments at Hamburg SV, VfB Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg. His last position with the Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin recently ended after 28 games in the dugout.
The fourth member of the group is Uwe Stöver. Born in Wuppertal, he joined the Bayer 04 second team from Cronenberger FC in 1989. After three years he stepped up to the senior squad and, after nine appearances in the 1992/93 season, the central defender then moved on to VfL Bochum. After ending his playing career in 1999, Stöver began his career as a coach and he later moved into management. Today, the now 55-year-old is the sporting managing director at Holstein Kiel. The former Werkself player has developed the 'Storks' into promotion candidates in the second division since taking up his post in the autumn of 2019. Three points away to Fortuna Düsseldorf on Monday night would put the North German team in the top three in the second division. Bayer 04 send out many happy returns and best wishes to all four birthday boys.
The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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