"Following the 4-0 home win against Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Black and Reds are looking for the first away win in the current Bundesliga season after the 1-1 draw at Union Berlin. And the signs are very positive from a Bayer 04 perspective. One reason is the stats: The Werkself have not lost any of the previous 20 Bundesliga matches against Augsburg (13 wins, 7 draws). “It's definitely an oddity," said Leverkusen's coach Seoane looking at the statistics, "but every game starts at 0-0. For us as a team it's about focusing on the next opponent week by week."
The win against Gladbach has provided a "boost" for the forthcoming challenges. "You could see that in training this week," reported the Swiss manager. However, it is "very important to find out why the performance was good. Our aim against Augsburg must be to achieve a similar level of performance – as a team and individually." That means: The strength in challenges shown by Bayer 04 against Gladbach and the aggressive counter pressing will also be required at Augsburg to achieve a positive result.
Once again, Seoane will have to manage without Karim Bellarabi and Lucas Alario at Augsburg in addition to long-term injuries Edmond Tapsoba (ankle) and Timothy Fosu-Mensah (cruciate). Bellarabi and Alario did take part in full training this week but are not available for the away fixture at FCA. And Julian Baumgartlinger (knee) will also not travel with the team to Augsburg.
It appears extremely likely that new signing Piero Hincapie will be in the Werkself squad for the first time at Augsburg. "He trained all week and has good basic fitness as he completed the first part of the pre-season in Argentina. He's definitely available," explained Seoane. With Amine Adli, who signed a five-year deal in Leverkusen on Thursday, the coaching staff will see how he does in the final pre-match training session.
Seoane has seen a positive development with his team after three games. "The players take on board lots of points we bring up in training," said the former defender before adding: "That started with the cup game, then in Berlin and now against Gladbach. The Gladbach match is a really good yardstick. If we manage to produce that aggression and solidarity on the pitch week by week then we will definitely be able to make better use of our playing ability."
That worked very well against the Foals. But now the incentive must be, "to regularly show that throughout the season in different competitions." He added," It's a much bigger target than a position."
The Werkself conceded a late goal to suffer the third defeat of the season in Monday night's Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga fixture on matchday ten. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team lost 2-1 at SC Freiburg. Vanessa Fudalla (65’) scored the only goal for Bayer 04 who are now fifth in the table on 19 points.
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Bayer 04 midfielder Ibrahim Maza was honoured in Paris in the Best Algerian Young Player category at the Fennec d'Or awards for the Algerian Footballer of the Year, organised for the first time by the football journal La Gazette du Fennec. "It's an honour for me," said the 19-year-old, delighted with the award.
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On the back of two wins within four days, Bayer 04 Women round off an intensive Bundesliga week in the Black Forest. Roberto Pätzold's side have the chance to move back up to third place against SC Freiburg in the final fixture of Matchday 10 on Monday (18:00 CET) and draw level on points with second-placed VfL Wolfsburg.
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The last international break of this calendar year features the final qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. An overview of who's playing where and when from a Leverkusen point of view.
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