The Werkself coach talked about...
...the personnel situation: "Everybody returned from Larnaca fit and well and nobody is complaining about serious injury. With the players left behind with slight knocks, we will probably have Jonathan Tah and Karim Bellarabi available again. There is still a big question mark over Sven Bender – we will probably make a decision about his availability for Sunday tomorrow."
...targets: „"We have the chance with a victory – which is obviously our aim – to get within two points of Eintracht Frankfurt. Then we would be where we want to be – or at least heading in the right direction. I have the feeling the team has finally found their way out of a difficult phase and are ready to take the next step."
..the opposition: "The table never lies and Frankfurt have had a great season so far. After a difficult start, Adi Hütter (Eintracht Frankfurt coach, ed.) has done an incredible job. They play unbelievably intensive and all-out football, similar to the way Jürgen Klopp's way of playing football. In the statistics on intensive runs per game and in the ground covered they are amongst the top teams. They've had a very good first half of the season – it feels like the best in the last ten years."
...Eintracht's front three: "It's impressive the way Luka Jovic, Sébastien Haller and Ante Rebic have played this season. It will be incredibly important to get a grip of them on Sunday. The same actually applies to Makoto Hasebe, their driving force in midfield, who we will also have to take out of the game – but according to press reports he is unlikely to play (due to a muscle injury Suffered in the Europa League game against Lazio on Thursday, ed.)."
...the Werkself attitude: "We were able to beat Frankfurt twice last season. In both games, we showed the mentality needed to win games like that. In the away game at Frankfurt, I remember the opening goal well when Julian Brandt won the ball in his own penalty area, we quickly played up field down the left flank and Kevin Volland was in the middle to score the goal. That ability to accept defensive responsibility – as Jule brilliantly showed – will definitely be needed on Sunday."
…the approach : "We have to be wide-awake, be very compact and really try never to let the Frankfurt attack us in a one-on-one so that they can't dribble facing our goal. We have to make sure that everybody really helps defend."


SAB-P GmbH is to become Bayer 04 Leverkusen's first official inclusion partner. The company, which has previously been involved in the club's Business Club, is underlining its social commitment to inclusion with an agreement that runs until 31 May 2027. Among other things, it will be the shirt sponsor of the Inclusion Team from the 2026/27 season onwards.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 20 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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