On Tuesday morning, nine players completed a recovery session on mountain bikes including the Bender twins, Dominik Kohr, Kevin Volland and Lucas Alario, who celebrated his 26th birthday. At the same time, Karim Bellarabi, who has been suspended since the game against FC Bayern but will be available for the Hannover match, completed shooting practice with assistant coach Niko Schneck.
Julian Baumgartlinger and Panagiotis Retsos worked on their comeback on neighbouring pitches. While the Austrian was able to report "very good progress" in his recovery from a torn collateral ligament in his left knee and talked about returning to full training in the coming weeks, Retsos is already a step further on. The Greek, who suffered a torn ligament in his right thigh at the summer training camp in Zell am See, worked on a range of running and passing drills with assistant coach Xaver Zembrod and he could soon be in a position to train with his team-mates again. Charles Aránguiz was also at the BayArena on Tuesday. The Chilean's continuing knee problems mean he was only able to follow a special rehab session at the Werkstatt.
Up to Friday, there are three more sessions for the ten-man training group consisting of Lucas Alario, Sven Bender, Karim Bellarabi, Dominik Kohr, Kevin Volland, Mitchell Weiser and Wendell – plus the three goalkeepers staying behind in Leverkusen Ramazan Öczan, Thorsten Kirschbaum and Tomasz Kucz. Capitain Lars Bender and Kai Havertz, who misses the chance of making another appearance for Germany following a knee injury picked up against Freiburg, continue to work on their own.
Ten Werkself internationals are set to represent their countries from Thursday to Tuesday. In addition to the eight call-ups expected (Jakub Bednarzcyk, Julian Brandt, Aleksandar Dragovic, Lukas Hradecky, Tin Jedvaj, Isaac Kiese Thelin, Paulinho and Jonathan Tah), there are two others: Leon Bailey has decided to accept the invitation to play for the Jamaican national team. The 21-year-old is set to make his international debut against Bonaire on 15 October. Sam Schreck was called up to the Germany U20 squad on Monday by coach Mikel Schönweitz (for the friendlies against the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Bayer 04 narrowly missed out on victory at home on Matchday 4. Having taken the lead through Malik Tillman in the 70th minute, the Werkself's solid defence was breached in added time by Haris Tabakovic's equaliser.
Show moreLate celebrations in Nuremberg: thanks to a last-minute goal from Loreen Bender, Bayer 04 Women made it two wins out of three matches in the Bundesliga. Coach Roberto Pätzold's side deservedly won 1-0 away to promoted team 1. FC Nürnberg on Sunday afternoon. Substitute Bender sealed back-to-back wins with her strike in the third minute of added time in her first appearance of the campaign.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-0 win at 1. FC Nürnberg on the 3rd matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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In their second Bundesliga game under Kasper Hjulmand, Bayer 04 face a tricky task at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday 21 September (kick-off 17:30 CEST). The Foals may have endured a poor start to the season, but after Eugen Polanski took over from Gerardo Seoane at the start of the week, the opponents "are a bit unpredictable", according to Hjulmand. The Matchday News has everything you need to know ahead of the meeting at the BayArena.
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Borussia Mönchengladbach are currently experiencing turbulent days. After ten games without a win over the course of this and last season plus five games in a row without scoring a goal, the club parted company with head coach Gerardo Seoane last Monday. On Sunday, 21 September (kick-off: 17:30 CEST/live on DAZN and Werkself Radio), Borussia will be coached by former U23 coach Eugen Polanski in the clash with the Werkself - and the Foals will be looking to turn things around at the BayArena. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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