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."
“Year after year, this is an incredibly valuable gathering, both in terms of the content covered and the opportunity for mutual discussion,” stressed Bayer 04 goalkeeping coach David Thiel in his welcoming address at this year’s goalkeeping coaches’ meeting. This was the third time in four seasons that the event had been held at the BayArena. Organised by the German Football Association (DFB), the meeting brought together goalkeeping coaches from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the 3rd division from the west region. For the first time this year, goalkeeping coaches from the youth performance centres (NLZ) were also present. Bayer 04 fitness coach Markus Müller provided fascinating insights into the specific fitness training carried out with the Werkself’s goalkeepers.
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It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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