“Exequiel Palacios has established himself as an incredibly important player at the Werkself. The fact he was a key member of the Argentina team at the World Cup in Qatar underlines his qualities as a team and individual player,” said Simon Rolfes, Bayer 04 sporting managing director. “Exequiel has often and successfully put his exceptional power and aggression on the pitch as well as his strategic and playing qualities to the benefit of our team. We are convinced he can assume an even more key role in the future.”
The 24-year-old Palacios believes his original assessment of Bayer 04 is fully justified after three and a half years at Leverkusen. “The club has fulfilled everything they promised from when I signed,” said Palacios. “I really feel at home here in Leverkusen and I’ve been able to keep on developing as a player. And the great reputation of Bayer 04 back home has ensured I’ve always remained in the reckoning with the Albiceleste. I’ve become a South American champion and World Cup winner with Argentina. It’s clear I want to win trophies with the Black and Reds now.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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Bayer 04 face Hamburger SV for the first time in almost eight years. Although the Hanseatic city team are often below par on the road, they are regularly in top form in front of their own fans. In particular, 18-year-old shooting star Luka Vuskovic is proving to be a real bonus for Merlin Polzin's team, both in attack and defence. However, that should not scare the Werkself: Not only was the last defeat against the newly promoted team 17 games ago, but Kasper Hjulmand's players are in with a chance of securing their fifth win in six games against HSV. Today’s matchday news.
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Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 meet again in the Bundesliga for the first time in almost eight years. This Tuesday evening, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET), the promoted team with impressive home form welcome the Werkself to the Volksparkstadion to round off the Hinrunde. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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