The brilliant 4-0 win in Cologne in the middle of December was followed by Hannes Wolf, "but we don't want to look too far back in the past but instead concentrate on tomorrow," declared the head coach on Friday. "It's about winning the next derby. And to do that we have to play good football but also display passion and the right mentality on the day."
In addition to defensive solidity, as already shown in Wolf's first game against FC Schalke 04 (2-1) and most recently in the 0-0 draw against TSG Hoffenheim, it is now about creating more chances. Wolf: "We’re at home and we are playing for a place in Europe. Of course, we want to score goals. Tomorrow would be a very good evening for that."
With the opposition, Friedhelm Funkel will be in the dugout again as the FC Köln head coach for the first time at the BayArena on Saturday. The 67-year-old coached the team from Cologne 20 years ago and started his second stint at the club on Monday. Before that, Funkel was the coach at Fortuna Düsseldorf for four years up to the start of 2020. "In that time, he had different approaches to games. Therefore, it will be good for us to focus on ourselves," said Wolf. The Werkself head coach is not expecting FC Köln to adopt destructive and defensive tactics.
Wolf has already experienced games like the one between Bayer 04 and FC Köln in previous points of his career. As a youth coach with Borussia Dortmund he played against FC Schalke 04. In his first team roles at Stuttgart there were clashes with Karlsruhe, and at Hamburg SV the rivals were FC St. Pauli. "I've already been involved in several derbies and am totally aware of the significance of this match. Now it's about Leverkusen coming out on top against FC Köln and increasing our points return to seven with the addition of three more points."
Match information:
Broadcasters: Sky and Werks11 Radio
Referee: The match officials will be announced on the day of the game
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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