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“The feeling and mood within the team are good and all of us are really looking forward to the final,” said Xabi Alonso on Wednesday afternoon. “After winning the league, we can achieve great success in the Europa League and then the DFB Pokal as well.”
The opponents in the final, Atalanta, are fifth in the table in Serie A and on course for a Champions League finish also thanks to current impressive form with 13 points gained in the last five league games. Like the Werkself, the North Italian side are in the final of the Italian cup competition with Juventus providing the opposition tonight in the Coppa Italia. In the Europa League, they have knocked out Sporting CF, Liverpool and Olympique Marseille. “Atalanta are currently one of the toughest opponents in Europe,” said Alonso.
The 42-year-old Spaniard shared words of praise for his fellow coach Gian Piero Gasperini. The 66-year-old Italian has coached Atalanta since the summer of 2016. Alonso: “He has a clear plan and built up a team with strong mentality and high quality in depth. They are a top team. We’ll have a chance if we produce our best form. It will be a great final, very tight and interesting for the fans.”
While Alonso won nearly every competition in his time as a player, winning the Europa League remains to be achieved. He can now make that up as a head coach. Asked about that, the title-winning Leverkusen coach declared: “My trophies as a player are in the past. Now it’s time to win titles as a coach.”.
The fact this season has turned out to be such a great success was something Alonso did not foresee last summer. “We have a clear target of qualifying for the Champions League. On top of that, we wanted to play good and attractive football. Winning the Bundesliga and being in two finals was not necessarily realistic in August. But after two or three games we saw early on what was possible and that we could achieve something exceptional”
One factor in the success, named by Alonso, is day-to-day work plus open communication between the players and the coaching staff. “We learn from each other every day and I’ve learned a lot as a coach in the time up to now. We have done very well so far even though there have been a couple of mistakes of course. Now we will focus fully on the last Bundesliga game and prepare for the two finals.”
The second international break of the 2025/26 season will begin after the Bundesliga match against Union Berlin (Saturday, 4 October, 15:30 CEST). The latest information on call-ups.
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Alejo Sarco and Argentina won their second group match at the U20 World Cup in Chile on Wednesday night. They beat Australia 4-1 with Sarco setting the tone early with a goal in the third minute. As in the first group game against Cuba, where Sarco scored twice, the 19-year-old was also named "Player of the Match" against Australia.
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Second game, second draw in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26: The Werkself were held to a 1-1 draw by Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven on matchday two in the league phase. After an early but brief setback in the form of an offside goal by Ivan Perisic for the visitors (5'), the Werkself took control and created numerous good chances in the first half. Leverkusen took a deserved lead after the break in the 65th minute through Christian Kofane. However, PSV's Ismael Saibari replied a few minutes later to level at 1-1 (72').
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In the second match in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26, the Werkself host PSV Eindhoven this Wednesday evening, 1 October (kick-off: 21:00 CEST/live on DAZN and on Werkself Radio). PSV have injury problems but are in confident mood after winning two consecutive league titles. PSV coach Peter Bosz and keeper Matej Kovar are two familiar faces who have fond memories of their Bayer 04 days. The latest information on the UCL match at the BayArena can be found in out matchday news.
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Bayer 04 beat PSV Eindhoven 3-2 on matchday two to clock up the next three points in the UCL Youth League 2025/26. In front of just under 500 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, the visitors from the Netherlands led at half-time, but the Werkself turned the game round in the second 45. That makes it two wins on the bounce after the victory in Copenhagen.
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