"Today we only practised drills rather than moves but it's good that Lars got through the session without any problems. That gives us hope that we can increase his workload over the week so he can be back on the pitch on Saturday," said Heiko Herrlich, who ruled the 28-year-old out of the Gladbach game. According to the medical section, the absence of Havertz, Volland and Wendell is due to resting them or controlling workloads. Sven Bender, recently sidelined with an ankle injury, was able to train on his own on Monday.
There is good news regarding Lukas Hradecky. The 28-year-old Finn left the protective helmet he has been wearing in training following his jaw operation in the dressing room. He also took part in goalkeeping training without his mask. There is no final diagnosis at the moment but it is to be assumed he will return to full training in the near future. However, Herrlich has ruled him out for Saturday: "We don't want to take any unnecessary risks with Lukas."Rambo Özcan will be in goal again for the first Werkself home game of the season.
Video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) has announced the nominees for the Men's and Women's Team of the Year (TOTY) for EA Sports FC 26. With Patrik Schick and Alejandro Grimaldo for the men and Vanessa Fudalla for the women, there are three Bayer 04 players included. Fans of the Black-and-Reds can vote for each top XI of 2025 from now until 18:59 CET on Monday 12 January.
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The Werkself host Mainz at the BayArena on matchday 24 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The match is on Saturday, 28 February, at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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The long-standing successful collaboration between Bayer 04 and the transport service provider wupsi GmbH has been expanded: From January 2026, 100 wupsi bikes with Bayer 04 branding will be available for hire throughout the city of Leverkusen. They will complement the many existing offers and services that provide key support, especially for fans travelling to and from home matches at the BayArena.
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The Werkself are back! Following the two-week winter break, head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team began the new year with an open session on Sunday. After Robert Andrich and his teammates arrived in Leverkusen yesterday for the official check-in, they got back down to business a day later in front of around 1,200 fans at the Ulrich Haberland Stadion. The report from the Werkself's first session of 2026.
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