The birthday celebrations within the squad for Jeremie Frimpong, who is 21 today (Friday), could fortunately be held on the training ground. As usual on this occasion, the Dutchman had to negotiate a tunnel of teammates standing closely together. Frimpong completed this with a smile on his face and without pain in his ankle, which did not look likely after the final whistle in the match in Budapest.
The right-back came off the bench and was brought down in added time and had to leave the pitch before the end of the game. "Jeremie received a heavy blow to his ankle. Fortunately he didn't suffer any injuries to his ligaments. It's looking good," explained Gerardo Seoane at the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
Seoane, who did not lose any players from the intense match at Ferencváros, is able to focus fully on the away game in Frankfurt. Eintracht have recovered recently and, like the Werkself, won their group in the Europa League. The team coached by Oliver Glasner have picked up ten points from the last five Bundesliga matches. "Frankfurt have come into very good form in recent weeks – not just in terms of performances but also results," warned Seoane.
The 43-year-old Swiss coach on the approach of Eintracht Frankfurt: "They have a ball-winning and physical team and often are very quick in transition after winning the ball just as we are. Unsurprisingly, he identified the key attacking player as Filip Kostic. The Serbian winger has scored three goals and provided six assists in the Bundesliga to date: "He's an outstanding crosser of the ball. We'll have to try and close him down – even if that's not always possible over 90 minutes."
After the "all in all good display" in Budapest, Seoane now has several new possibilities in terms of personnel for the next three league matches within just nine days. Players who have returned from injury were able to pick up important match practice as were others who have rarely started recently. "We have three tough games. We need to have a lot of players available," explained Seoane who is looking for a fourth Bundesliga win in succession.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Due to the last-minute postponement of the Bundesliga match between Hamburg and the Werkself on Tuesday, 13 January, Bayer 04 will reimburse the ticket price to all 3,500 fans who had already travelled to Hamburg as a sign of appreciation. The tickets remain valid for the rescheduled match (date not yet set).
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Bundesliga fixture between Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 Leverkusen has been postponed at short notice.
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Bayer 04 face Hamburger SV for the first time in almost eight years. Although the Hanseatic city team are often below par on the road, they are regularly in top form in front of their own fans. In particular, 18-year-old shooting star Luka Vuskovic is proving to be a real bonus for Merlin Polzin's team, both in attack and defence. However, that should not scare the Werkself: Not only was the last defeat against the newly promoted team 17 games ago, but Kasper Hjulmand's players are in with a chance of securing their fifth win in six games against HSV. Today’s matchday news.
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