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)


It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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