Two VBL clashes are shown live each week on Pro Sieben Maxx. For the Leverkusen duo Kai 'Deto' Wollin and Fabian 'B04_Dubzje' de Cae, it was the first TV matchday in the current season. "The broadcast was brilliantly organised. Of course, it's a bit different being live on television instead of playing at home," said 'Deto' who faced Hertha's 'EliasN97 Nerlich on PlayStation in the first individual match.
Hertha mainly restricted themselves to defensive work and they took the lead through an unfortunate situation from the perspective of the Bayer 04 player. 'Deto' continued to battle and levelled at 1-1 on 70 minutes – but that was it. The draw in the first game of the night meant that the Black and Reds had no chance of being top at Christmas. But second spot was within reach.
Wollin's partner, Fabian 'B04_Dubzje' de Cae, has been extremely successful up-to-date. After the outstanding Bremen player Michael 'Megabit' Bittner, the Bayer 04 eSports player has the most wins this season – and another came against the Old Lady from the capital (victory number 14). 'B04_Dubzje' gave his opposite number Leon 'HBSC Blackarrow' Aussieker no chance on Xbox.
After 45 minutes score was already 4-0 and the scoreboard showed 4-1 in the end – and second place was secured. "I dominated the game over 90 minutes. I think, the first half was my best to date in the VBL," said de Cae who was more than happy ahead of the doubles match.
And it was "an evenly balanced clash", said 'Deto' ahead of the last match of the evening. The final score of 1-1 was a fair result and it led the former world champion to draw the following conclusion: "We've picked up five points and won the matchday, so we can be happy with that. We'll try to play as well in the second half of the season and see what happens in the end."
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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