"I can feel the anticipation too," admitted the Werkself head coach ahead of the clash with his former club. And this time there will hopefully be a better result than in last season's appearance of Bayer 04 at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund: The Black and Reds were unfortunate to lose 3-2 given a significantly higher amount of possession and a greater number of chances. "We played well but BVB ended up winning. And in football it's all about winning," the Dutchman declared. Now, after three defeats in succession against the Black and Yellows, it's finally time for a win at the 04th attempt.
The Werkself head coach refuses to be influenced by any talk of possible disruption for Dortmund after their recent defeat in the league away to newly promoted Union Berlin (1-3). Instead, Bosz wants to focus his attention on his own team: "It's not so important to me that BVB could be under more pressure. I always focus on my own team – the line-up, how we train or how we want to play against the opposition. Anything else doesn't interest me."
Peter Bosz has almost his full squad to choose from. On Friday afternoon, he still did not know how his players who were on international duty coped with the rigours of travel in yesterday's training session. "I'll decide later about who is available after the final training session," said Bosz who will probably only be without Joel Pohjanpalo (training deficit) against BVB. Today's birthday boy has just returned to full training this week after a persistent ankle injury. Sven Bender, who suffered a shoulder injury in training on Tuesday, also trained yesterday and should be available for tomorrow's game according to Bosz.
Tomorrow's game in Dortmund brings together the two teams who have had the most possession so far this season. While the Werkself are up to 72%, BVB have 75%. Bosz refused to venture an opinion on how open tomorrow's game could be: "We always want to play our own game both home and away."
Match information
Stadium: Signal Iduna Park (81,365 capacity)
Previous results: 2-4 (H), 2-3 (A)
Weather forecast: 21 degrees, predominantly sunny
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)
Live TV broadcaster: Sky Sport


Bayer 04 have agreed a loan move for U19s striker Ken Izekor to join Bundesliga 2 club Eintracht Braunschweig on loan for the rest of the 2025/26 season.
Show more
Bayer 04 have agreed a loan deal for Jeanuel Belocian to join fellow Bundesliga club Wolfsburg on loan until the end of the season. The 20-year-old defender’s contract in Leverkusen runs until 30 June 2029.
Show more
After Leverkusen's eSports team spectacularly won the first showdown in the history of the VBL Club Championship last year, two rather sobering editions followed with two early exits. Now, in Showdown Four, cousins Marc and Sean Landwehr have once again made it into the offline knockout phase. And in this phase, Bochum awaits on Monday, 2 February (live on the VBL's Twitch channel from 16:00 CET). Here's a look at their opponents and what might happen next.
Show more
SAB-P GmbH is to become Bayer 04 Leverkusen's first official inclusion partner. The company, which has previously been involved in the club's Business Club, is underlining its social commitment to inclusion with an agreement that runs until 31 May 2027. Among other things, it will be the shirt sponsor of the Inclusion Team from the 2026/27 season onwards.
Show more
The Werkself were impressive in the 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt with clinical finishing and a first half "at a high level" that head coach Kasper Hjulmand draws a lot of positives from. The same should apply to Arthur, who scored for the first time in the Bundesliga. Edmond Tapsoba, for his part, was happy about his 250th appearance in a Bayer 04 jersey. "I think we're slowly finding our feet again," said goalscorer Malik Tillman, summing up the performance. The Werkself review.
Show more