Bayer 04 and Peter Bosz agreed a contract extension on 17 January and announced the Dutch coach would stay at the club to 2022. Bosz's previous record is impressive: The Werkself have played 58 games under him and picked up an average of 1.90 points per match – no other Bayer 04 head coach, in charge for more than ten games, has a better average. By comparison: Jupp Heynckes averaged 1.87 points in his two seasons at Bayer 04. The only ones better than that were caretaker managers: Peter Hermann (1 game/3 points on average), Rudi Völler (7/2.43) and Sascha Lewandowski (54/1.94).
2020 is only three months old and will certainly still have some highlights up its sleeve. But one has already happened: the 4-3 home win against Borussia Dortmund. In spite of BVB leading twice, the hosts turned the game round in 82 seconds late on with goals from Leon Bailey and Lars Bender. Kevin Volland also bagged a brace.
This time they came incredibly close. On 15 February, the score in the Bundesliga match between Union Berlin and Bayer 04 was 2-2 on 90 minutes – a flattering result from a Werkself perspective who produced a below-par performance at the An der Alten Försterei stadium. For the first time ever, it looked like the Berlin team were going to take a point from a clash with the Black and Reds. Then Karim Bellarabi scored in the 04th minute of added time to make it 3-2 and destroy the Union dream. After the Werkself also came out on top in the DFB Cup quarter-final tie against Union two and a half weeks later, the record for the Berliners against the Werkself is now: five games – five defeats.
FC Augsburg have been waiting even longer for a win against Bayer 04. The 2-0 defeat on 23 February was the 20th attempt in a competitive fixture (Bundesliga and DFB Cup). The record to date for FCA: 14 defeats, 6 draws – and not a single win.
This loss hurts: Kevin Volland was also in top form in 2020 and always good for a goal or two – but the 27-year-old striker suffered a torn ankle ligament in the Europa League game against FC Porto. Time out injured: approximately three months. Volland underwent an operation immediately and is now in rehab. A comeback before the end of the season looked to be tight – now that appears to be more realistic if the season extended due to the coronavirus pandemic. Volland is hopeful: “I’m making great progress. I’m confident complete recovery could happen one or two weeks earlier than planned.”
Bayer 04 can look back at 999 away goals in the Bundesliga with the last one netted by Leon Bailey on 1 March at RB Leipzig. Who will make it 1,000? We will have to wait patiently for the answer...
“I just wanted to show what I can do. Perhaps some people don’t know me that well,” said Paulinho in explaining his goal celebration after the 4-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt – he ran to the North Stand and bowed to the fans. The Brazilian, in his first start for Bayer 04, repaid that with a double and an assist. Since detailed records have been kept, (2004/05), Paulinho is the first player at Bayer 04 to be involved in three goals in a Bundesliga game on their first start.
Winter signing Exequiel Palacios made his debut on 5 February in the DFB Cup tie against VfB Stuttgart. The Argentinean played for the full 90 minutes in his first outing and has played three games since.
Following the Werkself going out of the Champions League at the end of last year after finishing third in the group, the club were in the Europa League in 2020. And with great success! Bayer 04 fans witnessed brilliant performances from their Werkself team: The Peter Bosz team comfortably beat FC Porto in the Round of 32 with a 2-1 home win and a 3-1 victory away and the Werkself also impressed in the Round of 16 first leg with a 3-1 win at Glasgow Rangers: And hopefully there is more to come!
But then it all came to a stop – at least for the time being. The match in Glasgow was the last game in front of a crowd; as it turned out, the last before the postponement of domestic and European games due to coronavirus. The match will certainly be remembered by the 900 travelling Werkself fans. The atmosphere during the game and particularly after the final whistle was brilliant! A little party before the break.
The Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team and s2-Software are continuing their long-term partnership: The Werkself and the provider of pre-owned Microsoft licences have extended their contract by two years to 2028. This means s2-Software will remain the Bayer 04 sleeve sponsor for all matches in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga.
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BIOGENA is the new performance partner for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team. Under a partnership initially set to run for three years, the club and the leading Austrian micronutrient company are pooling their expertise in the areas of health, fitness and top-level performance.
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100 children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy had the chance to gain exclusive insights: As part of the summer camp, the young footballers headed inside the BayArena at midday on Tuesday, 21 July, where they were due to meet Werkself keepers Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch in the press conference room. The two players took plenty of time to answer every question from the inquisitive audience – whether it was about their own careers or their first impressions of the new head coach. Finally, there was even time left to sign autographs for the young fans.
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Alejo Sarco has left Bayer 04 Leverkusen to join Sporting Gijón in Spain’s second division. Bayer 04 have secured a buy-back clause for the 20-year-old Argentine striker, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
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