Buoyed by the success of reaching the last sixteen of the Champions League in Moscow on Tuesday night with a game to play, the Werkself will be up for the challenge in Munich as Roger Schmidt declared.
"Promise to Karim "
The head coach revealed a very special motivation for his young team to the members of the media on Friday afternoon: “We have a very good reason to be in the Champions League at the start of 2017. The reason is Karim Bellarabi. Last season, he played a big part in us qualifying for the Champions League so we were determined to see Karim play in the competition. He’s well on the road to recovery but he won’t play again this year. So we’re really happy we could keep that promise.”
The personnel position at the Werkself has hardly changed since the CSKA Moscow game. “It will probably be the same squad as on Tuesday,” said Schmidt. That means the game has come too early for Vladlen Yurchenko, Joel Pohjanpalo is unavailable and Lars Bender will also join Karim Bellarabi on the sidelines. “Lars still has a problem with his heel. It hasn’t improved much and he’ll need time, probably two or three weeks. We hope he’ll be back as soon as possible.” According to Schmidt, Stefan Kießling has not “trained for ten days and I need to speak to him.”
"FC Bayern are in good shape"
The fact the opponents in the top match have lost their last two games will not lead Roger Schmidt “to take anything for granted. Bayern were the better team against Dortmund for much of the match. The team have had a couple of results that are below par. Despite that, they will be in good shape and probably be able to field their best side against us. They have much more experience than other team in the league or in Europe and are capable of producing a top performance whenever the situation demands it.”
However, Schmidt wants the Werkself to “be brave” in Munich: “We’ve had a couple of good games against Bayern - particularly at home. Now we want to do the same in Munich. We’re capable of giving any team in Europe a game and that’s we’ll set out to do on Saturday night.”
After eight years in the youth set-up at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Benjamin Adam is leaving the club. The 35-year-old, who most recently coached the Leverkusen U17s, will take charge of the Hansa Rostock U19 team next season.
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There was a successful end to the women's internationals with Werkself players Carlotta Wamser and Cornelia Kramer qualifying for the 2027 World Cup finals in Brazil. A third Leverkusen player is still in with a chance of joining them. The Germany U23 players also experienced success in their last two international friendlies of the season.
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Traveling to North America for the World Cup this summer to see your favorite Bayer 04 players? Here’s a quick cheat sheet with thumbnail portraits and insider tips for each city from a local expert, so you can make the most of your visit and activities beyond the game!
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A fresh look for the BayArena: The Bayer 04 stadium will have new seating in the form of folding seats for the 2026/27 campaign that will ensure significantly improved seating comfort and simplified movement within the rows of seats. As part of routine replacement after 17 years, fans of the Werkself were able to purchase the existing seats, used to witness the first German league title in the club's history. In addition, a large proportion of the seats will be donated to charitable projects, primarily in the local region. Bayer 04 fans can look forward to new, functional folding seats for the season opener at the beginning of August - still in the club colours of black and red, of course. A glimpse at the BayArena during the refurbishment.
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