Head coach Heiko Herrlich had to manage without Julian Brandt, Bernd Leno and Julian Baumgartlinger, who are in the Germany squad tonight, and who are expected to return to Leverkusen tomorrow. The same applies to Leon Bailey who is struggling with an infection at the moment. "Leon is on antibiotics and we'll have to wait and see how he is on Thursday or Friday. If he is sidelined, then we will have another top player in the squad on Saturdays," said Heiko Herrlich, who was unwilling to divulge more details about his squad for the Leipzig game.
As at the start of last week, the Bayer 04 coaching staff again focused on physical work in training – after the Monday training session, Herrlich had his players do two sessions on the following day. While Admir Mehmedi and Panos Retsos completed individual work at the Werkstatt, their team-mates went through a rigorous session on the training ground. There was good news as Joel Pohjanpalo was joined by two returnees Jonathan Tah (back problems) and Benjamin Henrichs (viral infection).
There were just ten Werkself players involved in another intensive session in the afternoon. At the same time, there was no rest for the others – for reasons of controlling the workloads, Tah, Henrichs, Lars Bender, Wendell and Stefan Kießling were busy in the gym.
Another (public) training session is planned for Wednesday before training behind closed doors on Thursday in preparation for the weekend challenge against the second-placed club at the weekend.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed 16-year-old midfield prospect Gabriel Minutillo on a long-term contract. The Germany youth international will play for the U19s this season.
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Bayer 04 preparations for the 2026/27 season are in full swing, with the first friendly now under their belts. Although there are still around seven weeks to go until the first Bundesliga home game in early September, there is already huge anticipation for the start of competitive action for head coach Carles Martínez’s team at the BayArena. For the Bundesliga home matches of the new season, here is the latest information regarding the first phase of single-match ticket sales. The tried-and-tested early-bird phase remains in place. From 23 to 31 July, tickets for matches will go on sale on weekdays; the early-bird phase ends on 5 August at the latest – provided tickets are still available by then.
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Like last year, Bayer 04 Women held their summer training camp in Rieden. Coach Roberto Pätzold gives his assessment of the time in the Upper Palatinate, discusses the integration of the 11 new players and the unusual team building measures, gives his thoughts on the friendly and looks ahead to the start of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga season in August.
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Just in time for the start of the summer holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Werkself will hold another open training session on Tuesday 21 July. The session at the BayArena is scheduled to start at 11:00 CEST and will again be available to watch in a live stream. The fans who are there can look forward to a very special surprise.
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Bayer 04 Women rounded off their one-week training camp in the Upper Palatinate with their second friendly win of pre-season. Coach Roberto Pätzold's side beat Czech top-flight outfit Slovan Liberec 6-0 in a match consisting of 4 x 30 minutes. Maja Sternad (8'), Caroline Kehrer (55'), Natasha Kowalski (67', 84') with two direct free kicks, Valentina Mädl (97') and Justine Brandau (107') scored the goals for Leverkusen at 1.FC Rieden's Fenstertechnik-Weinfurtner-Arena.
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