Seoane sees the game against the team sitting sixth in Italy’s Serie A as a very complex endeavour. “Both teams are very attacking but also have a compact defence,” the 43-year-old said. The hosts may be without two strikers in Duvan Zapata and Josip Ilicic, but the Swiss tactician still regards Gian Piero Gasperini’s side as a good and dangerous collective. “They’ve developed well in recent years. It’ll be a tough job, but we can do it.”
Goalkeeper Hradecky has prior experience of facing Gasperini’s team. “I played a friendly here in Bergamo with Frankfurt in 2016 pre-season,” the 32-year-old stated at the press conference. “They were still on their way to the top in Italy at the time. Now they’re a very experienced European team.”
The Leverkusen No.1 is looking forward to an exciting tie against the Italians: “They are extremely aggressive and snappy, but we’ve studied their team well and have to show a mature performance tomorrow.”
Seoane has 19 players available to him for Thursday. The players who haven’t made the journey are goalkeeper Andrey Lunev (ankle), striker Patrik Schick (muscular), winger Karim Bellarabi (muscular), and midfielders Robert Andrich (knee problems), Julian Baumgartlinger (not in the European squad) and Kerem Demirbay (suspended).
Demirbay’s suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards means Seoane has already confirmed that Charles Aranguiz and Exequiel Palacios will be his two holding midfielders. “Both are well capable of being able to make a mark in attack and defence.”
Following last weekend’s big game against Wolfsburg, Bayer 04 Women face another exciting challenge as they visit Hoffenheim to kick off Matchday 3 in the Google Pixel Bundesliga on Friday (kick-off: 18:30 CEST).
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Under the slogan ‘Holidays without War’, 60 children from war-torn Ukraine took part in the summer camp organised by the German-Ukrainian association Blau-Gelbes Kreuz in Leverkusen and the surrounding area in August. The children aged between 10 and 14 – many of whom have lost their parents in the war – come from the Ukrainian twin towns of Leverkusen, Cologne and Monheim am Rhein: Nikopol, Dnipro and Volodymyr. Bayer 04, Bayer AG and TSV Bayer 04 supported the camp to mark its 10th anniversary, enabling even more children and young people than in previous years to spend a few carefree days’ holiday away from the war in the Rhineland.
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Midfielder Ruby Grant is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen and joining Portuguese runners-up Sporting CP a year before her contract expires. The 24-year-old has been at the Werkself since January 2025.
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Bayer 04 have loaned Brazilian full-back Arthur to Bundesliga side Werder Bremen for one year. Arthur Augusto de Matos Soares – the full name of the right-back – has a contract with Leverkusen until 30 June 2031. At Werder, the 23-year-old is expected to make an impact and help the long-established club further consolidate their position in the Bundesliga.
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