…selection options – apart from long-term injuries Pohjanpalo and Retsos: "Lars Bender is ruled out for tomorrow due to a thigh problem, otherwise everybody else is available."
…Lars Bender's injury: "He injured himself in training yesterday. I don't know exactly what's up – the doctor has just told me he can't play tomorrow."
…opponents Bayern Munich: "They've improved and are now playing better than before the winter break. They have a good team but we also have a good team. And so I'm expecting – as was the case before the matches against Gladbach and Wolfsburg – an interesting and intense game."
…tomorrow's encounter: "If you want to get a good result against Bayern then everything has to go right – not just the offensive or defensive game. We'll try that tomorrow. I think we've gained confidence from the last two games. Gladbach and Wolfsburg are good teams but it's also clear that Bayern are at another level. That means everything really has to go right tomorrow. And that's what we'll try to do."
…the improvement in his team: "We've been working together for about a month and it's easy to understand that not everything is quite what I'd like to see. But if I look at our last two games then I have to say that I'm very happy. I think we – in this one month – have reached a higher level. But to beat Bayern you have to be right on top of your game."
…increased confidence of his team: "I can't judge that. I've not been here that long but I can say that the players are confident. At the start I didn't have the impression that there was no confidence. I don't know what it was like before I started here and I can only say: Since I've been here, the players are confident – and they've shown it. It's also important that they are confident in the way they play – and they've shown that too."
…potentially helping out his former employers: "Yes, that's right – we can help Dortmund tomorrow but, above all, we can help the nice people who work here at Leverkusen. That's more important to me. We want to help ourselves and we can do that by having a good game."
The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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