Set pieces were the focus of the last session in Saalfelden. Head coach Xabi Alonso also put in a few free kicks and crosses into the penalty area. That was followed by a range of passing drills and moves as well as work on maintaining possession. Then came the end of the first training camp for Bayer 04 in Saalfelden.
Head coach Xabi Alonso shared his assessment of the training camp after the session: "We achieved most things we set out to do this week. We've trained a lot here and next week will be different with three games one after the other.”
The Spaniard and his team are travelling on to San Sebastian for a friendly in a good cause (see below) away to Spanish Champions League side Real Sociedad to be played tomorrow Saturday. For Alonso it is a return to his hometown. The Bayer 04 head coach was emotional ahead of his return: "A year ago I was working there as a coach. I have a very close connection to the city, my hometown and to the club where I had a season ticket since I was six years old. I will meet up with a lot of people again and lots of players who I trained last year. I'm really looking forward to it."
Alonso said the following about the opponents Real Sociedad: "They are a really strong team. They didn't qualify for the Champions League last season for no reason and they also won the Spanish Cup in 2020. But, of course, we want to produce a good performance and we also want to win."
The following players are in the squad for the friendly against Real Sociedad: Lukas Hradecky, Jonathan Tah, Odilon Kossounou, Jonas Hofmann, Nadiem Amiri, Edmond Tapsoba, Arthur, Noah Mbamba, Alejandro Grimaldo, Amine Adli, Victor Boniface, Adam Hlozek, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Exequiel Palacios, Florian Wirtz, Patrick Pentz, Jeremie Frimpong, Gustavo Puerta, Granit Xhaka, Niklas Lomb and Ayman Aourir. The following youth team players Jesper Schlich, Madi Monamay and Matija Marsenic are also with the group. And U19 defender U19 Reno Münz is joining the squad from Leverkusen.
Robert Andrich, Patrik Schick and Kerem Demirbay (due to a slight knock) plus youth players Oleksandr Petrenko and Anton Bäuerle are heading back to Germany. Sardar Azmoun left the training camp at the start of the week due to a muscle injury in his left calf.
The charity match at Real Sociedad kicks off at 18.00 CEST tomorrow Saturday at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian. The match is being played in aid of the Fundación Columbus. Their mission is to raise funds for research into rare diseases and find treatments for these diseases through gene therapy. For head coach Xabi Alonso the journey to San Sebastian is also return to his hometown.
Bayer 04 have secured the services of Serbia U19 international Aleksa Damjanovic for next season. The 17-year-old centre-forward will move from Red Star Belgrade to Leverkusen in the summer on a long-term contract. The 1.98 metre tall striker is regarded as one of the most promising attacking talents in Europe and has recently impressed with strong performances at both first team and youth level. Managing director sport Simon Rolfes and director of football Kim Falkenberg particularly praise his finishing, heading ability and physical presence in the penalty area.
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The Bayer 04 eSports team made a great start to the fifth and final showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26! The Leverkusen players picked up nine points in the first three of six matches in the online preliminary round. Victories against VfL Wolfsburg, Eintracht Braunschweig and SpVgg Greuther Fürth not only put the Black and Reds in a good position to progress to the offline round. Valuable points were also collected for the overall table and direct entry into the final event of the German Club Championship.
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The fifth and final showdown of the VBL Club Championship 2025/26 begins for the #B04eSports team this Thursday, 12 February (live on the VBL Twitch channel from 18:00 CET), with the online preliminary round kicking off against VfL Wolfsburg, Eintracht Braunschweig and SpVgg Greuther Fürth. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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A Friday night derby, carnival time and floodlights: In the close race for third place in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga, the Werkself welcome FC Köln. In addition to the neighbourly rivalry, the match, kicking off at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium at 18:30 CET, is also a highly charged sporting encounter.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed a contract extension with women’s assistant coach Friederike Mehring until 30 June 2027. The 32-year-old’s previous deal was set to expire at the end of the season.
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