With the Bayer 04 head coach recently being forced to keep changing his starting eleven, the boss have received a boost ahead of the crucial decider for a Champions League spot as three key players return to training. In the home game against Hannover 96 on Saturday, the Werkself will probably only be missing Kevin Volland (one-match ban) and Joel Pohjanpalo (rehab after ankle injury). Lars and Sven Bender, rested due to muscular problems recently, were able to complete the whole training session on Wednesday but Jonathan Tah, in his first full session since his hip injury, went back to the changing room half an hour earlier than the others as a precautionary measure.
The training session on Wednesday was not only the final open session ahead of the almost completely sold out Hannover game but also the last open session before the summer break and the last open session for Stefan Kießling with his career at Leverkusen coming to an end after 12 years on Saturday. After the session was over, he undoubtedly had the longest way back to the changing rooms as he patiently fulfilled all signature and selfie requests from the fans at the training ground.
From Thursday, the Werkself have two further training sessions behind closed doors ahead of the decisive and final game of the season.
Werkself TV shows highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
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The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
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Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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