#B04inAustria – Day 3: Euro stars return

After a warm embrace and a few words the two headed for the training ground. Völler called in on the Werkself training session ahead of tonight’s friendly (18.00 CET) at the Alois Latini Stadium. Tah exchanged his sneakers for football boots and completed a warm-up routine with his team-mates before moving on to a first session with fitness coach Oliver Bartlett.

“Happy birthday Kevin”

Kevin Volland received an equally warm welcome in the morning as Tah. The new signing, who is already well established at the club, celebrated his 24th birthday today.

Update on training session

At ten o’clock his birthday went on the back burner. Roger Schmidt started the training session and after the warm-up the players moved on to various moves and, above all, finishing. Time after time, Karim Bellarabi, Chicharito, Joel Pohjanpalo and Co. found the back of the net. They were watched by Julian Baumgartlinger who was working one-to-one with the physios following his groin injury. His fellow countryman Rambo Özcan had to miss out to a slight groin problem.

Schmidt on the Werkself

Following the training session Roger Schmidt faced the travelling press and his responses included praising the extremely high quality of the Werkself squad: “I’m optimistic we can play at a higher level. We managed it last season but we were quickly caught up by events in the world of football.” By that he meant the incredible bad luck with injuries in the first half of the season that prevented the season being even more successful. “We want achieve a consistently high level in the new season,” said Schmidt.

Kieß on the mike for friendly

Bayer 04 play Regional League South West newcomers SC Teutonia Watzenborn-Steinberg in today’s friendly. The match at the Alois Latini Stadium in Zell am See is the evenue the Werkself train at. Entry is free and the friendly is brodacast live on the Bayer 04 Facebook page. An added attraction is the injured Stefan Kießling having a go at being a co-commentator.

Our opponents: SC Teutonia Watzenborn-Steinberg

The opposition from Hessen are also currently at a training camp in Austria. Last season saw the club run away with the fifth-tier Hessen League title and they celebrated promotion to the Regional League “until half three” according to their website. Games against teams like Lohfelden, Alzenau and Oberrad are now replaced by fixtures with Stuttgarter Kickers, Kickers Offenbach and TuS Koblenz. The Werkself recently beat the last mentioned 4-0.

Da Costa operation a success

Good news from Leverkusen: Danny da Costa has been discharged from hospital following a pllned operation on his shin and he can now focus on making his comeback in the near future.

#B04inAustria – Non-stop information

Using the hashtag #B04inAustria you can keep up-to-date with the #Werkself and #Bayer04 at any time. On top of that, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat provide opportunities very day to access exclusive stories from the heart of the squad. It’s worth logging on.