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).
The Champions League journey continues! On the eighth and final matchday of the league phase of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26, Bayer 04 secured their place in the play-offs with a commanding 3-0 win over Villarreal. Malik Tillman put in a mature and combative performance for Leverkusen, scoring a brace (12', 35') to make it 2-0 at the break, while Alejandro Grimaldo (57') and plenty of control of the game did the rest in the second half. The draw for the Werkself's next UCL opponents will take place on Friday 30 January at 12:00 CET.
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The Leverkusen eSports team played the remaining three of the six matches in the online preliminary round of the fourth showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. RB Leipzig and SC Freiburg were among the teams with the highest goal threat, including two World Cup participants in their ranks. Although the #B04eSports players were defeated in the matches overall, nine points from the first three games last week were enough for Leverkusen to advance to the offline round in Berlin on 2 February.
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A decisive showdown awaits: The Werkself are aiming to progress to the play-off round of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League with a home win against Villarreal CF on the eighth and final matchday of the league phase. Ahead of the match on Wednesday, 28 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the importance of the game, the possible return of Edmond Tapsoba and a statement from new signing Jonas Omlin in an exclusive interview with Werkself TV. Lucas Vázquez, for his part, spoke about his role on and off the pitch as well as tomorrow’s opponents, who he often faced in Spain with Real Madrid.
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For Villarreal CF, the match at Bayer 04 on Wednesday, 28 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), will be their last appearance on the European stage this season. The Spanish side, currently fourth in La Liga, are still without a win in the UEFA Champions League and, with just one point from their seven games so far, have no chance of making the play-offs. The 2021 Europa League winners can therefore play without any pressure at the BayArena and will be looking to bow out of the competition with a good performance. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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