"After the Hannover game, there was huge disappointment amongst the team at missing out on the target of a Champions League spot," said Herrlich at the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon ahead of the Gladbach game. Following that low, his players were all highly motivated – particularly when he started the pre-season on 5 July. "The motivation was brilliant from the start. And although there wasn't always that much to shout about in the friendlies, I can sense a real hunger, a great desire amongst the group – everybody's looking forward to getting going again," said the 46-year-old coach who also stressed there are different levels of expectation after very impressive performances at times last term. It is even more important to get off to a good start in tomorrow's encounter with Gladbach at Borussia Park. "Borussia Mönchengladbach are a very ambitious side – you can hear and read that everywhere. They've really strengthened and improved their squad. Nevertheless, we want to go there and, if possible, take all three points like we did last season," said the Werkself head coach confidently laying down the line.
The man from Mannheim is opting to overlook the fact the Bayer 04 medics and physios have their hands full at the moment. In addition to Julian Baumgartlinger (knee), Lukas Hradecky (rehab), Joel Pohjanpalo (ankle), Panos Retsos (thigh), this week saw keeper Thorsten Kirschbaum (thigh) plus Lars and Sven Bender (knee and ankle respectively) join the injury list – they are all unavailable for the opening fixture for the Werkself. "Lars and Sven Bender can't wait, both definitely want to play. Above all, with Lars it's the case he absolutely wants to get back on the pitch and tolerate the pain. But after discussions with the medical section, the risk is too great and we want to avoid them being sidelined for any longer than is necessary," said Herrlich in ruling out the captain and his twin brother: "I just want to have fit players on the pitch tomorrow." At the same time, he expressed his complete confidence in his other players. "I've always said we need 20 first team players to be strong enough given the crowded fixture list and to be able to produce the performances needed to be successful in all the competitions," said Herrlich and he promised: "We will field a very good team tomorrow."
It is certainly possible Charles Aránguiz will be in the squad. The 29-year-old Chilean has recently missed out due to knee and Achilles problems. That now appears to over. "Charly is still being treated and looked after by the medics but he has made very quick progress, trained very well this week and coped well with the workload. After today's final training session, we'll decide if we can take him with us," said Herrlich raising high hopes of the midfield maestro returning to action.
Around 3,000 fans will be in the away end at Borussia Park tomorrow night supporting the Werkself. There are some tickets available on the night.
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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