It was the big shock in the week of the cup final: Paulinho injured the cruciate in his right knee in training on Tuesday, 2 July. The outcome: several months on the sidelines. Paulinho's teammates sent a video get-well message from the BayArena to Innsbruck where the 19-year-old underwent a successful operation. The winger has been back in Leverkusen since Tuesday and has today started his rehab programme at the Werkstatt facility.
This incident is now part of German football folklore: In the 85th minute of the 1990 World Cup final against Argentina, Andreas Brehme stepped up to take a penalty with the score at 0-0. Today is the 30th anniversary of the final. Sport-Bild took this opportunity to invite Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthäus and goalscorer Brehme to an interview. And the latter spoke about the seconds before the penalty, which he hit into the same corner of the net as he did against England in the semi-final.
The now 59-year-old was asked whether that was taking a risk. "The biggest risk was Rudi Völler coming up to me before I took the kick and saying: 'Andi, if you score, we'll win the World Cup.' I just thought: Thanks a lot for making that clear," answered Brehme, who famously refused to be put off by the words of wisdom from today's Leverkusen sporting managing director. And so Völler, Brehme and Co. ended up celebrating winning the World Cup. Bayer 04 congratulate Rudi Völler and Co. on this anniversary.
The football portal transfermarkt.de has issued the first market value update in a top league since the coronavirus pandemic and adjusted numerous market values in the Bundesliga. This includes Bayer 04 youngster Florian Wirtz having his initial value rated at €10 million. The 17-year-old is thereby the third most valuable player born in 2003 worldwide. And the Werkself players Moussa Diaby (+5 to €32 million) and Edmond Tapsoba (+4 to €22 million) have increased in value.
The former Leverkusen player Heung-Min Son presented himself with a present two days before his birthday with Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs gained valuable points in the race for a Europa League spot with a 1-0 win against Everton on Monday night. The South Korea international, who played for Bayer 04 from 2013 to 2015, is 28 today (Wednesday).
Diaby celebrated his 21st birthday yesterday. The Frenchman joined the Werkself on Paris St Germain in the summer and he has scored five goals and provided five assists in 28 Bundesliga appearances. Bayer 04 wish the two wingers many happy returns (belatedly)!
Construction work continues on the ‘Haus der Talente’ on Kurtekottenweg in Leverkusen, where 36 young elite athletes will find a new home from next summer. The building team from Temmink Bau, led by Thomas Wellers, are hard at work. Over the past few days, excavators, wheeled loaders and rollers have removed 2,500 cubic metres of soil to excavate the basement.
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Special events for a special match: Bayer 04 are offering fans a varied programme of events at tonight’s home game in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga against German champions Bayern Munich (kick-off: 18:00 CEST). Alongside a number of interactive activities, events to mark the DFB Sustainability matchday are also planned around the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Read on in the matchday news ahead of the clash with FC Bayern.
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Following two close encounters against VfL Wolfsburg and away to TSG Hoffenheim, the Bayer 04 Women face another top side on Monday night. The Werkself host German double winners Bayern Munich at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium at 18:00 CEST to round off matchday 4 in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. Head coach Roberto Pätzold is counting on another spirited performance from his team.
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30 shots on goal, 14 corners, 63 per cent possession: Bayer 04 clearly had the upper hand in their clash with league leaders FC Augsburg, but squandered the chance of a second win in three games due to a few minutes after the restart, “when we stopped playing football”, as managing director sport Simon Rolfes said after the game. The Werkself review of the 2–2 draw at FC Augsburg.
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