News in brief: Demirbay nominated for Goal of the Month

It was a strike that has no equal: 20 minutes into the home clash with Leipzig, Kerem Demirbay shot from 25 yards out and put the ball in the back of the RB net via the underside of the bar. According to the stats from xGoals, which calculates the probability of scoring based on eight criteria, the chance of netting this goal was just 2.23 per cent.

And it is logical that the long-range effort from the Werkself number 10 has been nominated for the September Goal of the Month on the ARD-Sportschau. The 27-year-old has the final digit 2. Votes can be cast for the Leverkusen midfielder via phone (0040 (0)1371/36900 – 2) or online at sportschau.de. The closing date for entries is Saturday, 17 October, 19.00 CEST.

‘30 years of reunification’

The Day of German Unity on 3 October was a special public holiday in 2020 – as it was the 30^th anniversary of reunification. Bayer 04 dedicated a thematic week to this turning point in German-German history. Based on this series at bayer04.de it is clear: The fall of the Berlin Wall was a lucky break for the Werkself. Click HERE to access the articles.

Good ratings for sports broadcasts

Positive numbers for the Bundesliga: The ARD-Sportschau had 4.44 million viewers on Saturday night (market share: 18.7 per cent) the best numbers since the beginning of March. The highlights of the 1-1 draw for the Werkself at VfB Stuttgart was available in the afternoon.

And the Pay TV broadcaster Sky can also look back at good figures at the weekend. The individual and multi-match coverage from Saturday afternoon reached an average TV audience of 1.71 million fans. The Aktuelle Sportstudio, that was broacast on ZDF on Saturday night at eleven o’clock, had 1.86 million viewers (market share: 12.3 per cent).

Palacios is 22

A great day for ‘Pala’: The Argentinian Bayer 04 player Exequiel Palacios celebrates his 22^nd birthday on his day off on Monday. The midfielder signed for Leverkusen from River Plate at the start of January this year. Since then, the Copa Libertadores winner of 2018 has made eight appearances for the Werkself.

And the former Leverkusen player Robbie Kruse is also a year older on this Monday. The 32-year-old, with the Werkself from 2013 to 2015 and from the start of 2016 to the start of 2017, is now playing football back home in Australia – since the summer of last year for Melbourne Victory. Bayer 04 wish both: Happy Birthday!