
Head coach Gerardo Seoane was able to welcome Odilon Kossounou back to the squad on Tuesday. The central defender headed home before the turn of the year to take part in the Africa Couple Nations with Ivory Coast. The tournament ended for the Ivorians last week with a 1-0 defeat against Egypt in the Round of 16. That means Kossounou is available for the match against BVB.
Paulinho has also returned to full training in the shadow of the BayArena. The Brazilian forward was sidelined after testing positive for Covid-19 and he is now being gradually brought back up to speed.




Julian Baumgartlinger (after knee injury) and Daley Sinkgraven (after muscle injury) were involved with some of the team training on Tuesday while Exequiel Palacios continues to be sidelined due to back problems. .
A few days before the start of the second half of the season in the FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga, the coaches and captains of the twelve clubs have voted for their four best players in six different categories. In the most improved category, there was a player from the Bayer 04 squad in Verena Wieder. The 21-year-old was in third place in the rankings, with 18.2% of all the votes, which she shared with Maximiliane Rall (Bayern Munich). Wieder joined Leverkusen from SC Freiburg in the summer of 2020 and last season scored four league goals for the Black and Reds. Carry on, Verena.
With the exception of Wendell (250 games), no other Brazilian player has made more appearances for Bayer 04: Juan, signed from flamingo Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 2002, played 176 times for the Black and Reds (16 goals). After five years he moved on to AS Roma before returning to Brazil in 2019 where he ended his playing career. Juan today celebrates his 43rd birthday – many happy returns.

Bayer 04 congratulates Sebastian Boenisch on his 35th birthday. The Polish left-back joined the Werkself in November 2012 and he went on to play 76 times (3 goals, 12 assists) for Bayer 04 in four years. After joining other clubs, mainly in Austria, Boenisch ended his playing career in the summer of 2020. Many happy returns and the best of health for the year ahead too.

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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