The German Football League (DFL), as organisers of the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL), decided in the middle of December to postpone the remaining two-against two games in the VBL planned for 22 December due to the coronavirus pandemic. That meant the Leverkusen eSports players only completed their individual games against Werder Bremen and Hannover 96.
The outstanding virtual matches against the northern clubs have now been completed. Bayer 04 carried out comprehensive hygiene measures in the Elgato gaming room which included screens between the players for the two-against-two matches. If there are are individual matches then only the player involved stays in the room. And the main requirement still applies: maintain distancing.
Thanks to the measures taken, Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr and Kai ‘DETO’ Wollin were able to fully focus on the rearranged games – and that paid off. Against the reigning champions Bremen, there was an overall 7-1 win thanks to the 2-0 success in the doubles; after the 1-1 draw in the two-against-two game against Hannover, Bayer 04 also won against the team from Lower Saxony with a 5-2 victory.
The #B04eSports players went into the second session of the evening in confident mood. The opponents were again from the far north of the country and this time it was Holstein Kiel. The Black and Red console players were able to celebrate parallel to the 4-1 home win for the Werkself against Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB Cup. First of all, ‘DETO’ drew 3-3 with his opponent Cihat ‘CIHAT6161’ Korkmaz and then Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ De Cae beat Kiel’s Benedict ‘B3NN1FIFA’ Ratzlaff 2-0 on Xbox.
As the following two-against-two ended all square at 1-1, Leverkusen earned the third overall winner of the evening. The #B04eSports players are now sixth in the North West division.
A cracker of a semi-final at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The Bayer 04 U19 team entertain Bayern Munich on Saturday, 10 May (kick-off: 11:00 CEST/stadium opens: 10:00 CEST). In front of a home crowd, the team led by head coach Sergi Runge, who welcomes back an attacking player, is looking to build on the battling performances from the previous knockout games and "perform at the right moment." Tickets are available from the Bayer 04 online shop and the game will also be broadcast live on Sky.
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Germany U17 head coach Marc Meister has called up three Bayer 04 youth players for the forthcoming UEFA U17 European Championship. The tournament involving eight teams runs from 19 May to 1 June in Albania.
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"We have mixed feelings overall today," said head coach Xabi Alonso after the 2-2 draw away to SC Freiburg. Bayer 04 were deservedly 2-0 down against the Champions League contenders up to the closing minutes but fought back with a double whammy from Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah to earn a point in the end. That maintains the run of unbeaten away games in the Bundesliga – the all-time record has been achieved! The Werkself review.
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Bayer 04 have now gone 33 Bundesliga away games in succession without defeat and thereby equalled the record set by Bayern Munich: Jonathan Tah netted the equaliser at 2-2 in added time away to SC Freiburg on his 400th appearance for the Werkself. SCF took a 2-0 lead with a strike from Maximilian Eggestein (44') and a Piero Hincapie own goal (48') before Florian Wirtz pulled a goal back on 82 minutes.
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