Kevin Volland underwent a successful operation on his ankle last night following the injury suffered in Thursday’s 2-1 win in the Europa League game against FC Porto. The operation was performed by Professor Walther at the Schön-Klinik Harlaching in Munich. The 27-year-old posted a thumbs-up photo from hospital on Instagram on Tuesday afternoon. In spite of the pain and the prospect of weeks in rehab, Volland has not lost his sense of humour as he wrote on his plaster cast with a wink of the eye: “The football boot is back on.” Volland will start his rehab treatment at the Werkstatt in Leverkusen.
While Volland is recovering from his operation, the Werkself fly out to Porto tomorrow (Wednesday) for the second leg in the Round of 32 tie (Thursday, 27 February, 18.55 CET – live text commentary and Werks11 Radio at bayer04.de). Both the Werkself and FC Porto enjoyed a boost at the weekend ahead of the game: The ‘Dragons’ beat next-to-bottom Portimonense SC in the league on Saturday. The winning goal was scored by Alex Telles a few minutes before the end of the game.
Talking about Europa League: If the Werkself go through to the Round of 16 on Thursday night, then Friday will be exciting. The draw in Nyon is at 13.00 CET.
Today, Shrove Tuesday, marks the end of the current carnival season – it’s been very colourful, entertaining and fun at Bayer 04 too. At the carnival parades in Leverkusen, Brian the Lion and the Schwadbus flew the flag for the club. On Friday, members of the Löwenclub were in Hitdorf, the Bayer 04 Club and the Silver Lions were in Schlebusch on Saturday and Bayer 04 members of staff were in Opladen on Rose Monday with countless sweets distributed at all parades. Unfortunately, the weather put paid to the hopes of the Teens04 on Sunday – the carnival procession in Wiesdorf was cancelled due to the prospect of heavy storms. The day was not a complete washout for the group – it ended on a high note with a 2-0 win for the Werkself against FC Augsburg at the BayArena.
The ‘Sportschau’ included Exequiel Palacios in their ‘Team of Matchday 23’. The ‘Kicker’ put Nadiem Amiri in their ‘Team of the Day’. The sports journal also named the 23-year-old as the Man of the Match after the Werkself game against FC Augsburg. The reasons: “He was the driving force in Bayer’s game, won the ball a lot in defence and often made himself available. Nadiem Amiri scored to make 2-0 at the end of an unstoppable run.”
While the Werkself still have eleven games to play in the Bundesliga, the #B04eSports players have their final matchday night. In the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL), Kai ‘Deto’ Wollin and Fabian ‘B04_Dubzje’ De Cae entertain Eintracht Frankfurt. The matches against the team in ninth place start at 20.30 CET. As usual, the games will be streamed live at Twich (https://www.twitch.tv/b04esports).
Bayer 04 welcomed 14 media representatives from Africa on Friday, 1 December. The trip for journalists from the likes of Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mozambique, Togo, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Togo was organised by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) with the goal of establishing and promoting Africa as a new target market for the Bundesliga.
Show moreBayer 04 has modernised its media working area in the stands at the BayArena and equipped it with new, multifunctional monitors. The 50 screens will be used for the first time for the fixture against Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 13 in the Bundesliga next Sunday, 3 December (kick-off: 17:30 CET) and offer the media representatives working at the BayArena on matchday numerous possibilities.
Show moreBayer 04 have little time to recover from their 2-0 win away at Häcken in the UEFA Europe League, ensuring progress to the round of 16, before their next challenge up against Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Sunday (17:30 CET). At his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, head coach Xabi Alonso spoke about BVB and gave a warning about not losing focus.
Show moreSpirits are high at Borussia Dortmund following their impressive display and result away at AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. On Sunday (17:30 CET), they want to keep an impressive week going with another scalp in Leverkusen. Here’s the lowdown on our next opponents.
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