“It would be great if we can score that historic goal. It would be the opener and we always look to take the lead.” However: “It will be difficult against Augsburg as they’ve been much more solid in defence over the past few weeks.”
Ahead of the “exciting phase” with the Augsburg-Spiel and the ensuing fixture list starting with home games in the Champions League against Atlético Madrid on Tuesday night and the Bundesliga against FSV Mainz 05, Roger Schmidt declared: “We know what to expect. The sooner our players are on top form, the better our chances of getting something out of those games. But we’re just focussed on FC Augsburg at the moment. After a good final training session we’ll fly to Augsburg and try to influence proceedings there, assert ourselves and come out on top.”
Schmidt sees Augsburg as a “difficult opponent” who “again and again manage to put opponents off their game. We have to take account of how they’ll play and we’ll probably have to defend a lot of high balls. Augsburg have a good target man in Bobadilla who can hold the ball up and lay off to the quick players coming up in support. We’re ready for them.”
Tah, Toprak and Calhanoglu sidelined
There was good news on the injury front for Aleksandar Dragovic: “Aleks has been in full training all week. With him and Tin Jedvaj we have two top players as options in central defence. It’s very important as Jonathan Tah is still injured and Ömer Toprak is suspended.” In addition, Hakan Calhanoglu is also ruled out for the rest of the season. All the other players are fit. There is a question mark over Lars Bender. “Lars had a slight problem after the intense game against Frankfurt caused by his very long injury lay-off. But they are general issues. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see if he’s available. I can’t be certain at the moment.”
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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The Black and Reds kick off the new Bundesliga campaign today, Saturday 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST), away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg – and the Werkself will come up against a familiar face who is currently causing a stir at ‘Elv’. For an affordable and easy journey to the Saarland, the 1,600 travelling fans can still use the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Today’s matchday news..
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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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