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.”
The Bayer 04 Women’s squad for the coming season is continuing to take shape: Centre-back Emily Wallrabenstein has moved to Leverkusen from Eintracht Frankfurt’s reserve team, who play in the Women’s Bundesliga 2. The 19-year-old has penned a contract until 30 June 2028.
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Bayern 04 Women have confirmed another summer signing, with midfielder Paulina Platner moving to Leverkusen from SGS Essen. The 20-year-old has signed a two-year contract with the Werkself.
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The German Football League (DFL) has shortlisted Martin Terrier’s scorpion kick goal against 1. FC Köln for the 2025/26 Bundesliga Goal of the Season. Bayer 04 fans can vote for their favourite goal via the Bundesliga app from now until Monday 25 May (23:59 CEST).
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Bayer 04 will be preparing young talents for a potential sporting career in an even more systematic way in future. The club is breaking new ground to help develop their academic, social and personal skills as well. With the ‘Haus der Talente' or 'Talent House’, Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH is creating a new centre for the development of young athletes in a central location in Leverkusen. Once completed – expected to be in the summer of 2027 – the project will be run in partnership with TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen e.V.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-3 loss against Werder Bremen on the 26th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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