The Werkself travelled to the capital on matchday 33 in the knowledge that three points at the Olympic Stadium could have been a big step towards qualifying for the Champions League. "We went to Berlin on the back of a good run and played well in the opening stages of the game," recalled head coach Peter Bosz at the pre-match press conference on Friday. The Werkself did not recover from going 1-0 down to a wonder strike on 22 minutes and the match ended in a 2-0 defeat for the visitors.
Ahead of the first meeting of the season with Hertha Berlin, the numbers are again in favour of the Werkself: The visitors, currently thirteenth in the table, are currently not performing to their own expectations with just one of the last seven Bundesliga matches won. "They are a good opponent. But they're not where everybody expected them to be," Bosz said. "Hertha have a lot of good individual players. But up to now they haven't managed to fulfil expectations as a team."
For the game against the team from the capital, the Dutchman still has to manage without long-term absentees through injury Santiago Arias, Paulinho and Exequiel Palacios as well as the captain Charles Aránguiz (knee). Edmond Tapsoba (positive Covid-19 test) and Sven Bender (ankle) are also sidelined. On the possible return of Lars Bender, who completed the regeneration session with the team on Friday, Bosz said: "We'll have to wait and see how he is."
In view of the winning run and third place in the Bundesliga, which the Werkself could secure with three points against Hertha Berlin, the 56-year-old drew a positive conclusion: "We have changed our style of play slightly and up to now that has worked really well. We want to build on that."
As part of the joint commitment of Bayer 04 and the City of Leverkusen to volunteering, the annual Volunteer Day took place in the 19nullvier Lounge at the BayArena. Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, Stefan Hebbel, Mayor of the City of Leverkusen, and club representative Stefan Kießling praised the commitment of the 200 or so volunteers from the region in attendance and thanked them for their impressive efforts.
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After three defeats in a row, the Bayer 04 Women are aiming to get back on track against RB Leipzig. In the home game on Saturday (14:00 CET) at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, coach Roberto Pätzold will probably be able to count on two key players recently sidelined due to injury.
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The clubs in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga will set up the Frauen-Bundesliga FBL e.V. On 10 December. The clubs have joined together to open a new chapter in the history of German women's football.
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In his 13 years as a professional player at Bayer 04, the honorary captain and record goalscorer made 446 appearances scoring 238 goals along the way. Many of them remain unforgotten, including his header to win the DFB Pokal in 1993. Ulf Kirsten celebrates his 60th birthday today Thursday - and Bayer 04 are happy to take this opportunity to look back on some of the former number nine’s special goals and games. But first of all: Happy Birthday, dear Ulf!
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