The Werkself players felt the after-effects of the Porto home match on Friday morning. "We talked about the game this morning and now we have to work on it," said Bosz who had the starting eleven complete a relaxed recovery session. "We did a bit more with the others but not too much because we have an important Bundesliga game against Augsburg in a couple of days," explained the 56-year-old head coach at the press conference.
Karim Bellarabi returned to full training after recovering from a cold and is an option for Sunday. Moussa Diaby also returned in time from Paris to complete the morning training session after he yesterday paid a flying visit to his heavily pregnant partner. The Diaby baby is letting people wait and the 20-year-old is on standby up into including the Augsburg game. Kevin Volland, who had to limp off in added time after a challenge in last night's game against Porto, underwent an MRI scan but no serious injury was revealed. "We'll have to wait and see about the pain and whether this weekend is an option," said Bosz.
The head coach refused to reveal if he intends to rotate his side for the game against FC Augsburg, who have yet to beat the Werkself in Germany's top flight: "All the players available to us are an option. We can play with different systems and the variations depend on availability and opponents. We are definitely prepared for different scenarios that will arise against Augsburg."
Match information:
Attendance: 23,500; tickets available on the matchday from 13.30 CET
TV broadcaster: Sky
Referee: Sven Jablonski (Bremen)
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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