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In response to the question of to what extent Xabi Alonso is aware of the explosive nature of the derby against Köln, the Spanish coach answered without hesitating: "I knew the significance of this match for the team, the club and the fans from the first day."
The 40-year-old, for whom this will be the first clash with FC Köln as head coach at Bayer 04, highlighted the positive that many of his players have plenty of derby experience: "We are expecting an opponent with lots of energy and good support from the fans. It's something special and we need emotional stability for this game."
A win at the Rheinenergie Stadium would see the Werkself build on the 5-0 victory over Union Berlin. "Winning against Union is no good to us if we don't follow up that performance in Cologne," said Alonso. "We were well organised defensively in the second half. We have to build on that and that will lead automatically to a better attacking game."
The Werkself continue to be without the services of Sardar Azmoun and Florian Wirtz, with Alonso saying it is "still too early" for his return. There are question marks over recent absentees Charles Aránguiz (calf) and Patrik Schick (groin).
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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 working 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 personal 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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen and sponsors club partner NRG24 are continuing their partnership, which has been in place since the summer of 2023. The Bundesliga football club and the energy consultancy firm have extended their successful partnership until 30 June 2027.
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