The Werkself started Sunday with a training session in Leverkusen. While part of the squad began with a session inside the BayArena, the rest of the players were on the training ground. Returnees from Euro 2024 and Copa América returned to the training ground with an audience of several hundred Bayer 04 fans. The Germany trio of Florian Wirtz, Jonathan Tah and Robert Andrich plus Switzerland's Granit Xhaka and Piero Hincapie, who played for Ecuador in the Copa América, were back on the training ground.
Head coach Xabi Alonso and his coaching staff put the newcomers and their teammates through their paces with a session starting with a range of strength and stability drills – with and without the ball. That was followed by short-passing moves. The session ended after an hour. Wirtz and Co. were happy to meet all requests for autographs and selfies. After a communal lunch, the group set off for Donaueschingen.
21 Werkself players plus eight youth team players and the coaching and other staff arrived at Der Öschberghof hotel late in the afternoon (see squad report). Having arrived at their destination, the German double winners were greeted with an excellent reception from several hundred friends under blue skies.
A traditional reception was provided by a group playing local music. Alonso was presented with a Black Forest cuckoo clock and Jonas Hofmann accepted a large Black Forest gateaux on behalf of the whole squad – with smaller versions of the famous cake being presented to today's birthday boys Niklas Lomb and goalkeeping coach David Thiel.
A number of photos were taken with a woman wearing traditional Black Forest attire. Wirtz and Co. signed autographs and posed for selfies with the fans before heading off for a communal evening meal. Several players ended the day playing table tennis in the team area at the hotel with some exciting matches.
Alonso will lead a training session with his players tomorrow morning on the neighbouring training ground of SV Aasen. The Werkself will make the two and a half kilometre journey from the hotel on bicycles. The session begins at 10.30 CEST and is an open to Bayer 04 fans.
Bayer 04 are through to the second round of the DFB Pokal after a 4-0 win at Sonnenhof Großaspach on Friday night. The game was paused after only 18 minutes due to a storm over the ground. After a lengthy delay, play resumed and Patrik Schick opened the scoring. Arthur, Christian Kofane and Alejandro Grimaldo made things more comfortable in the second half, as the fourth-tier side had two players sent off.
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