“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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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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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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