
Bayer 04 suffered a last-minute defeat in the first leg against AS Monaco: Axel Disasi only scored the 3-2 winner for Monaco in the second minute of added time. "Of course it hurts that we didn't win the first leg," said Xabi Alonso. "But I've seen in the preparation for the second leg over the last few days that all the players are absolutely ready to fight for victory tomorrow. We definitely want to go through to the next round!” The Werkself will be supported by around 750 visiting fans at the Stade Louis II.
When asked about the heated final moments in the first leg, Alonso explained: "Tomorrow we have to find the right balance between emotion and control. We learned a lot from the first leg, so we have a clear plan for tomorrow. It’s important we take risks at the right time.”
At the press conference, some details of Moussa Diaby and Patrik Schick were met with great interest from the media representatives. Centre forward Schick, who has been injured since November, was on the pitch for more than half an hour last weekend against Mainz and scored to equalise for the Werkself 2-2. “We were all very happy about that. Of course, he will need some time to get back to top form. But we see him on a very good path,” explained Xabi Alonso.
Moussa Diaby, on the other hand, had to sit out against Mainz due to a small muscle injury from the Monaco first leg. However, the France international was able to complete parts of the final training session today and travelled to Monaco. Alonso spoke about the chances of using the lightning-fast winger in the second leg: "Tomorrow we will weigh up the risks with the medical department and Moussa."

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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