Talking about his time at Leverkusen, the coach said: "It was a very exciting, very intense time" and he added: "In the opening phase we didn't manage to turn performances into points. And then we came into a difficult situation at a club not used to that situation with such young players. But in the last two weeks we have succeeded in completely focusing our minds. We could have won both games."
Korkut is now looking to clock up a victory in his last game with Bayer 04 in Berlin. For Hertha it is all about qualifying for Europe: The Berlin team could slip down to seventh place, which would be enough to qualify for the Europa League if Borussia Dortmund beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB Cup final.
Bayer 04 will definitely be without Kevin Volland (hamstring) for the game against Hertha. There is still a question mark over Ömer Toprak making appearance. Korkut: "I'll have to see how Ömer is. He's only trained on his own up to now and he hasn't taken part in full training."
All in red to Berlin
The #finallyRED campaign continues in Berlin. There is a tradition that all the Werkself fans show their support for Bayer 04 on the final matchday is of the season by wearing red. The Werkself will have the backing of some 1,900 fans in Berlin. Korkut: "The support against Köln was outstanding. We'd be glad to see that again. We want to celebrate a victory with the fans to round it off."
In mid-August, the Werkself will set off on a four-day trip to England to play their final two friendly matches of the 2026/27 pre-season against Premier League clubs Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. The match in Nottingham against the Tricky Trees is on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the City Ground. The game against the Magpies in Newcastle is on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST) at the atmospheric St James’ Park. Details on ticket sales for both matches.
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Black and Red talent development at the highest level – even off the pitch: Apprentices Jule Suermann, Leandra Bellia and Julia Niederheide have successfully completed their two- or three-year apprenticeships at the club. Bayer 04 honoured the trio at the BayArena on Tuesday.
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Rieden reloaded: Just like last year, the Bayer 04 Women’s team are spending their summer training camp in this idyllic corner of Bavaria. From this Sunday, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team will be based in Rieden in the Upper Palatinate for a week.
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Following the summer break, most of the players are back in Leverkusen. While two Bayer 04 first-team players are still in action at the World Cup, the players present officially kicked off the new season with fitness assessments. At the Werkstatt, the Bayer 04 rehabilitation and training centre, Robert Andrich, Edmond Tapsoba and the rest of the squad worked up quite a sweat in the sweltering summer heat. New signings Afonso Moreira and Kennet Eichhorn also successfully completed the day’s sessions alongside their new team-mates.
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The Werkself return tomorrow, Tuesday 14 July (from 11:00 CEST at the BayArena; live stream on bayer04.de, the Bayer 04 app and YouTube), with new head coach Carles Martínez leading his first training session as part of the Bayer 04 set-up. His coaching team comprises a mix of new and long-standing colleagues.
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