
Coach Heiko Herrlich was able to welcome back Wendell. The 24-year-old full-back, who has worked on his comeback in individual training over recent days following the ligament injury suffered away to RB Leipzig, took part in full training for the first time – at least for the first part. "We are increasing the workload day by day but the Bremen game is probably too soon for him," said Herrlich who hopes Wendell will be an option for the final game of the season at home to Hannover 96 (12 May). Karim Bellarabi joined the session later after working on his own in the Werkstatt. According to Herrlich, it was purely a precautionary measure.
Jonathan Tah (hip), Joel Pohjanpalo (rehab training after an ankle injury) and Sven Bender (muscular problem) worked in the facilities at the BayArena rather than on the training ground. "With Sven, we'll have to see how his muscle reacts and whether he may be an option for Saturday," explained the 46-year-old after the training session.
Heiko Herrlich will lead training sessions on Thursday (15.30 CET) and Friday (12.00 CET) before the Werkself head off for Bremen. The two sessions will be closed to the public.

Despite a major personnel shake-up in the summer, RB Leipzig have performed impressively this term. Ahead of matchday 15, coach Ole Werner's team are second in the Bundesliga with a three-point lead over their upcoming opponents Bayer 04. This Saturday, 20 December (kick-off: 18:30 CET), the Werkself are away to RBL who are strong at home. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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The German Football League (DFL) has scheduled matchdays 20 to 24 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The dates at a glance.
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This year - for the third time - the parents of the Bayer 04 youth players from the U8 to U15 age groups once again took part in the WDR Christmas Miracle. Under the motto "Goals against hunger in the world - parents in goal!", they organised their own fundraising campaign to once again actively support the important WDR campaign. The sum of €3,420 was handed over at the Glashaus in Essen in the middle of the week during the live programme.
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On Tuesday evening, Bayer 04's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer and its employees welcomed some very special visitors to the company's Christmas market at its headquarters in Wuppertal: Werkself players Robert Andrich, Mark Flekken, Loïc Badé, Jarell Quansah and Malik Tillman spent lots of time with Bayer 04 fans of all ages in the early evening – and also helped to serve drinks such as Glühwein (mulled wine) and delicious food.
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The Leverkusen eSports players picked up just one point on Tuesday 16 December in the remaining three matches of the online preliminary round of Showdown Three in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. As a result, the #B04eSports team once again miss out on going through to the offline knockout phase and now head into the winter break.
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