The big team from the north-west of Portugal picked up the points in the first game against Porto. The team under coach Sergio Conceicao ran out 2-0 winners against the Werkself on their home turf at the Estádio do Dragão with goals from Zaidu (69') and Galeno (87'). Those were the first points for the Dragons in Group B and they are now in third place level on points behind Bayer 04 in second and fourth-placed Atlético Madrid. Club Brugge are the runaway leaders with nine points from three games.
Porto are still flourishing on the domestic stage. The Blue and Whites won 2-0 away to SC Portimonense in the Portuguese league at the weekend. The lead for the visitors came from an unusual one-two: Otavio chested the ball down to Evanilson in the penalty area and he played it back with his belly. Otavio then slotted the ball into the net to give Porto a 1-0 lead (22'). The Dragons increased the advantage just after the restart following excellent work from Mehdi Taremi in the build-up with the Brazilian Pepê doubling the lead at 2-0. That secured the victory.
Porto remain close on the heels of league leaders Benfica with the seventh win in nine games and they are three points behind the top-of-the-table team from the capital in second place. "I didn't really like the first 15 minutes but after that we created lots of chances and we could have won by a bigger margin," said coach Conceicao analysing the 2-0 win on the Algarve.
The 47-year-old coach will have to manage without central defender Pepe in Leverkusen on Wednesday. The stalwart led his team out as captain in the 2-0 victory over the Werkself but suffered a knee injury in training a couple of days later. That means Pepe is not available for the game at the BayArena. He would have particularly looked forward to a reunion with Xabi Alonso. Pepe made 156 appearances for Real Madrid under the current Werkself head coach from 2009 to 2014. They won the Champions League together with the clu
Pepe's current teammate Wendell is really looking forward to a return to his former stamping ground. The Brazilian defender played for the Werkself for seven years. Now he has a good chance of being in the Porto starting line-up for Wednesday night's match at the BayArena. The 29-year-old left-back has started the last three games. "I have so many friends Bayer 04 and it will be a very emotional moment for me to be playing at the BayArena again," said Wendell.
Having progressed to the DFB Pokal Round of 16, the Bayer 04 Women do not have much time before their next Bundesliga fixture. On Friday night (18:30 CEST), coach Roberto Pätzold’s side kick off matchday six at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against Werder Bremen – and they have a clear mission.
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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 working 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 personal 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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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During the international break, Bayer 04 will face third-division newcomers SC Fortuna Köln on Friday 2 October (kick-off: 11:00 CEST). The match will be played on training pitch 1 at the BayArena, as preparations are already underway at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium for the Bayer 04 women’s Bundesliga home match against Werder Bremen, which is due to kick off in the early evening. To ensure the friendly against Fortuna Köln runs smoothly and without disruption, it will be played behind closed doors.
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