“Paderborn always try to play on the front foot. That opened up space for us in attack on Sunday. That’s not normally the case against Düsseldorf. We expect them to be more compact and defensive,” Bosz said at the pre-match press conference on Friday. “We’re prepared for that and that’s we’ve worked on in training today and we’ll train again tomorrow.”
Left-back Wendell, who picked up an injury in training on Wednesday, was unable to train with the team today. If the Brazilian misses tomorrow’s training session, “he won’t be in the squad on Sunday,” said Bosz. Charles Aránguiz (muscle injury) and the suspended winter signing Exequiel Palacios are definitely sidelined. On top of that, Paulinho is still on international duty with the Brazil Olympic team. The recently injured left-back Daley Sinkgraven has returned to full training and is available for the clash with Fortuna.
The Black and Reds are second in the Bundesliga away form rankings but at home the Werkself are only in tenth place. “We’ve dropped too many points at home and Sunday gives us the chance to improve the stats a bit,” said Bosz, who is only willing to accept a win: “We have to win the game and we need the points.”
Central striker Joel Pohjanpalo will not be in the squad for the Düsseldorf game. The Finland striker has joined top second division club Hamburg SV on loan to the end of the season on Friday. “Normally, we want to have two players for each position. With Joel, we have three players for the central striker position. That’s why we were able to let him go,” said head coach Bosz in explaining the move. The Dutchman also commented on other potential transfer activity: “We’ve got a very good squad with very good players. So, any replacement also has to be a very good player.”
Match information:
Broadcasters: Sky (TV) and Werkself Radio (bayer04.de)
Referee: Daniel Schlager (Niederbrühl)
Tickets: Bayer 04 expect an attendance of 26,000. The matchday ticket office opens at 16.00 CET.
Since 2023, Bayer 04 has been organising regular free goalkeeping coach training sessions at the BayArena. As in previous years, the event attracted enormous interest in mid-October 2026. Around 140 participants – mostly goalkeeping coaches from the region, but also team and academy coaches as well as association staff – came to the Werkself stadium to gain expert knowledge on the subject of zonal marking. Through a theoretical keynote presentation and a practical session on the pitch, the participants gained insights into goalkeeping and goalkeeper training at Bayer 04.
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The international break produced a full range of emotions for Bayer 04’s women. While four Leverkusen players were in play-off action to try and reach the World Cup, including two important goals, there were others in friendly action. Here’s a round-up of all the results…
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The NB Vintage Collection is here and available now! Members enjoy an exclusive priority purchase period (online shop only). Non-members will then be able to purchase items from Saturday 17 October (10:00 CEST). Sales will also begin at the same time at the Bayer 04 Fanwelt.
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On Matchday 1 of the UEFA Europa League league phase, Lech Poznań suffered a heavy defeat at Crystal Palace. Now the Polish champions will be looking for a more successful outcome in their first home game against the Werkself this Thursday, 15 October (kick-off 18:45 CEST) - and banking on a strong attack. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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