For the last time at this year's summer training camp, head coach Gerardo Seoane led two training sessions on one day. In the morning, the Swiss mainly focused on crosses, moves and finishing. Back with the group again: Youngster Emrehan Gedikli who was rested the day before as a control of his workload.
The 70-minute session was followed by the obligatory group photo with all the players, coaches and staff. They were joined on the photo by two representatives of the Zell am See-Kaprun holiday region, a long-standing partner of Bayer 04: Renate Ecker, CEO of Zell am See-Kaprun Tourismus GmbH, and Hannes Herr from SalzburgerLand Tourismus GmbH.
The second session in the afternoon was primarily spent on the neighbouring pitch at the Alois Latini Stadium. Jonathan Tah and Co. pulled on bibs and played across the whole pitch. The management plus players and coaches welcomed Werner Wenning to the second training session of the day. The chair of the Bayer 04 shareholders committee was there as a guest.
The training camp ends on Friday, 23 July with a friendly. The Werkself round off the training camp with a game against SC Freiburg in Wattens. The kick-off is at 14.00 CEST and the match will be broadcast live on the Bayer 04 YouTube channel.
After the second session, some of the Werkself players collected their towels for the first visit to Lake Zell at this year's training camp. The outfield players cooled down just a few metres away from the training ground. The goalkeeping quartet were ahead of the rest – Lukas Hradecky, Andrey Lunev, Lennart Grill and Niklas Lomb had already jumped into the lake in the morning.
While the majority of the Werkself squad are working hard in Austria, two Bayer 04 players are away in Japan. Nadiem Amiri (Germany) and Paulinho (Brazil) kick off the Olympic Games football tournament on Thursday. The opening match in Group D in Yokohama at 13.30 CEST brings a face-to-face meeting between the two Leverkusen players.
Amiri is really looking forward to the clash with his teammate: "Such a cracker in the first match – every player is up for that!" Paulinho and Co. are based in the Olympic village just one floor below the Germany squad. "You can notice with the news that there is a certain tension," said Amiri with a smile.
Two former Werkself players celebrate their birthdays today (Wednesday). Ömer Toprak, captain of Werder Bremen, is 32 years old. The Turk played under the Bayer Cross from 2011 to 2017. During his time at Bayer 04, Toprak took part in four summer training sessions in Zell am See-Kaprun.
Andriy Voronin, at Leverkusen from 2004 to 2007, turned 42 on Wednesday. The former centre-forward has worked alongside Sandro Schwarz as assistant coach at the top Russian club Dynamo Moscow since November of last year.
Time to say goodbye! Matchday 22 against SV Werder Bremen marks not only the end of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga season for Bayer 04 Women but also, for their coach and a number of players, their time under the Cross. Moreover, the home match on Monday 20 May (kick-off 15:30 CEST) has plenty of sporting significance too.
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It’s going to be a historic day in Leverkusen as Bayer 04 receive the Bundesliga Meisterschale for the first time ever following the conclusion of the Matchday 34 encounter with Augsburg. The game this Saturday will be played in front of a sold-out BayArena, which will also see an emotional commemoration, a live performance and a drone show. Here’s all you need to know in our matchday news.
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It will be a historic and very special moment in front of a full house at the BayArena when the Werkself are presented with the first Meisterschale in the club’s history after the final whistle on the last Bundesliga matchday of the season against FC Augsburg. The fixture is on Saturday, 18 May (kick-off: 15.30 CEST/live on Sky and on Werkself Radio). Ahead of the clash with tenth-placed FCA, head coach Xabi Alonso talked about the trophy presentation as well as the possibility of being the first team to go a whole season unbeaten in the Bundesliga.
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A historic Bundesliga season for the Werkself ends with the presentation of the Meisterschale at Saturday’s home game against FC Augsburg. Bayer 04 are the new champions of Germany – for the first time in the club’s history. For this reason, there will be a special publication on the final Matchday. 88 pages will hail the achievements of the protagonists and includes emotional highlights from Werkself Radio. In addition, the photo-packed magazine will also include record stats, media assessment and congratulations from the world of football plus a report from 14 April when Bayer 04 were crowned champions with games to play thanks to a 5-0 win against Werder Bremen.
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