“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.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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The Black and Reds kick off the new Bundesliga campaign today, Saturday 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST), away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg – and the Werkself will come up against a familiar face who is currently causing a stir at ‘Elv’. For an affordable and easy journey to the Saarland, the 1,600 travelling fans can still use the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Today’s matchday news..
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The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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