Not only the press had special praise for striker Lucas Alario who scored the winner against Paderborn on 25 minutes. His team-mate Aleksandar Dragovic was also rejoicing in the Mixed Zone after the win: "Lucas is an unpredictable animal in the box. He's a lion and we just need to feed him." Alario also scored last weekend in the 2-2 draw with Werder Bremen – his Werkself team-mates certainly seem to be feeding him well in terms of assists at the moment.
In addition to Alario and Dragovic, there was another Bayer 04 pro on the pitch against Paderborn who the fans last saw in a competitive match 334 days ago. Defender Panagiotis Retsos, at Leverkusen since the summer of 2017 and hit by several long-term injuries, celebrated his comeback. The 21-year-old replace the injured Lars Bender on 31 minutes and did a good job. May that continue, Panos!
Turid Knaak wore the Bayer 04 shirt for six years (2011-17). In that time, she made 102 appearances scoring 20 goals. What few people know: The striker was a winner with the Werkself women's team in 2015 in the last DFB indoor cup competition. Since the summer of 2017, the 28-year-old has been at the Flyeralarm Bundesliga club SGS Essen and on Sunday (from 18.00 CET, live on ARD) she is replacing the ARD ski expert Felix Neureuther, absent due to illness, in drawing the Round of 16 matches of the DFB Cup. She will be accompanied in the German Football Museum in Dortmund by Andreas Köpke, the Germany goalkeeping coach, and presenter Matthias Opdenhövel.
Bayer 04 failed to win in five games in October: In the group stage of the Champions League there were two defeats at Juventus (0-3) and Atletico Madrid (0-1), a 3-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt plus two draws (1-1 against Leipzig, 2-2 against Werder Bremen). The DFB Cup did bring the first win for the Werkself in this less than golden October.
The Bayer 04 pros now go into November. And the Werkself fixture list continues to bring game after game: There are six matches in 26 days with a number of exciting duels. The meeting with the league leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach is followed by the visit of Atletico Madrid to the BayArena and in form Wolfsburg and Freiburg are also opponents as are Champions League competitors Lokomotiv Moscow and then Bayern Munich.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-3 loss against Werder Bremen on the 26th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed a conract extension with home-grown talent Sofie Zdebel by a further year ahead of schedule. The 21-year-old Germany U23 international will stay at the club until 30 June 2028.
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Jonas Omlin was given an official send-off ahead of the final Bundesliga game of the season at home to Hamburg. The 32-year-old Swiss goalkeeper joined the Werkself on loan for the second half of the campaign from Borussia Mönchengladbach in the winter.
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Bayer 04 and main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer have shown great commitment to the community as the sale of custom-designed T-shirts for charity in the Fanwelt as part of the “BarmeniaGothaer Brings Joy campaign raised a good €5,000. Bayer 04 matched this sum with an equal contribution. As a result, a total of €10,000 was presented to Edmond Tapsoba for his foundation ahead of the home match against Hamburg. The foundation supports people facing challenging daily circumstances in his home country of Burkina Faso.
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Bayer 04 host Hamburg at the BayArena for the first time since September 2017 on the final day of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season on Saturday (15:30 CEST). HSV are safe in their first campaign back in the top flight after back-to-back wins, but Leverkusen are unbeaten in their last 19 games against promoted teams as they go for the victory they need to have a chance to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. There’s also heavy discounts on food and drinks at the BayArena. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 34 fixture in our matchday news.
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