A tough challenge awaits at the venerable Stade Louis II in the shadow of the Rock of Monaco: AS Monaco are currently second in Ligue 1 and also head Group E in the Champions League after their 2-1 away win against Tottenham Hotspur.
"Monaco are an interesting team," said Bernd Leno at the pre-match press conference the night before the showdown. The Werkself played Monaco in the group stage two years ago losing 1-0 both at home and away. Coach Roger Schmidt clearly remembers both games. "We put in a huge amount of effort ended up with nothing," said the 48-year-old and declared the opponents' game is not change much in that time.
Bender and Calhanoglu set to return
"They don't take many risks and keep lots of players behind the ball," explained Schmidt: "Patience plays an important role against teams like that." The return of two key players in midfield, Lars Bender and Hakan Calhanoglu, comes at just the right time for the boss. Bender was unavailable at Mainz due to an ankle problem and Calhanoglu was sidelined with a bruised shin. "Hakan will very probably be back in the squad and it's looking up for Lars too," said Schmidt. A decision on Bender will come after the final pre-match training session.
The session took place straight after the press conference. Under floodlights and led out by Stefan Kießling the players came onto the pitch in front of empty stands to get a first taste of the unique atmosphere at the spacious Stade Louis II. In addition to being a football stadium it is also home to the local fencers, boxers and swimmers. Monaco home games do not attract as many fans as in German grounds with an average crowd of just over 8,000. However, that is an impressive figure given the city state only has population of 40,000.
Falcao sidelined
The Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim is only interested in the performance of his team and that has certainly in outstanding in recent weeks. Above all, the young Frenchman Thomas Lemar has impressed on the left wing and is suitably confident: "We’re well prepared for Bayer 04 and we want to get a result." Star striker Radamel Falcao will not be playing as he is still suffering from the effects of concussion.
In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
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Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
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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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