As in yesterday's morning session, coach Heiko Herrlich again had 18 outfield players at his disposal on the training ground. After missing the start of the week, Lars Bender, Kevin Volland, Wendell and Kai Havertz were back in full training. Havertz today received the call up from national coach Joachim Löw to the senior Germany squad that made him the focus of attention from the fans watching the session.
"Being called up is a dream come true for me. Of course, I'm really looking forward to being with the national team. However, there's the game against Wolfsburg on Saturday first. I'm fully focused on that at the moment," said the youngster after the training session. Sven Bender again completed an individual workout with the ball on the pitch away from the rest of the squad.
Herrlich has a total of two sessions left tomorrow and Friday for final preparations ahead of Saturday's opening home fixture at the BayArena. Both training sessions with be held behind closed doors.
The Werkself need a win in their penultimate match of the season at RB Leipzig on Monday evening (18:00 CEST) to keep their hopes of third place alive until the final day. After Eintracht Frankfurt lost on Saturday, Roberto Pätzold's side can close the gap on their rivals to two points and leave it all to play for next Sunday.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-3 loss at VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 33 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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Down to fifth from fourth place despite taking an early lead: in the head-to-head for a Champions League spot, Bayer 04 were 1-0 up at VfB Stuttgart with just a minute played thanks to an Aleix Garcia strike, but ultimately lost 3-1 (2-1) to the more determined hosts. It meant the Swabians leapfrogged the Werkself in the Bundesliga table on the penultimate matchday.
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Today sees Bayer 04 go head-to-head with their next direct rivals in the race for Champions League qualification (kick-off 15:30 CEST). Opponents Stuttgart are currently fifth in the table, level on points with the Werkself but one place below them due to a three-goal inferior goal difference. The Black and Reds' record at Bad Cannstatt tells a clearer story: they've not lost at VfB for over 16 years. One important factor in securing what would be three crucial points away from home is Leverkusen's strength on the counter-attack. Whilst Stuttgart are also extremely dangerous going forward, they will be without their captain. Today’s matchday news.
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