Around 90 members of the media took up the invitation to the press conference at the team hotel. Accompanied by a dozen camera teams, the Toluca coach Ignacio Ambriz immediately expressed his happiness at the Werkself visit to Mexico. The 57-year-old: “We wish you a warm welcome. It means a lot to us that you are our guests here.” Talking about the match, Nacho, the nickname for Ambriz, added: “It’s something special for us to be able to play against a team of this class, we will enjoy it.”
The press conference in the Diamond Room at the team hotel lasted half an hour. Gerardo Seoane thanked his Mexican colleague for his warm words and then spoke about the match against Toluca: “We’re expecting a great match for the fans and we are happy to see so many people following Bayer 04 here in Mexico.” Speaking about targets for the game, the 43-year-old coach said: “We want to represent our club and the Bundesliga to the best of our ability and also get to know new cultures. A different type of football is played here.”
At the end, Ambriz presented his Swiss fellow coach with a club pennant in a flurry of camera flashes from the numerous photographers present.
Following the press conference, the head coach had some time off – and he used it to find out more about the city of 20 million inhabitants. On a tour with his fellow coaches Patrick Schnarwiler and Alberto Encinas plus CEO Fernando Carro, there was a highlight from a great height: Seoane and Co. had a stunning view over the whole city from the 181-metre high viewing platform in the 44-storey skyscraper Torre Latinoamericana.
HERE is a report on the pre-match training session for the Werkself at the attractive academy of top-flight Mexican side UNAM Pumas.
Bayer 04 midfielder Ibrahim Maza was honoured in Paris in the Best Algerian Young Player category at the Fennec d'Or awards for the Algerian Footballer of the Year, organised for the first time by the football journal La Gazette du Fennec. "It's an honour for me," said the 19-year-old, delighted with the award.
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On the back of two wins within four days, Bayer 04 Women round off an intensive Bundesliga week in the Black Forest. Roberto Pätzold's side have the chance to move back up to third place against SC Freiburg in the final fixture of Matchday 10 on Monday (18:00 CET) and draw level on points with second-placed VfL Wolfsburg.
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The last international break of this calendar year features the final qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. An overview of who's playing where and when from a Leverkusen point of view.
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Never before have Bayer 04 led 4-0 so early in the Bundesliga, never before have they won a Bundesliga home match by a higher margin. Leverkusen's exhibition display against 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 produced many stories, records and debuts. While Kasper Hjulmand's side celebrated the rousing performance properly with the fans, Jonas Hofmann and Co aren't losing focus: "We have to be careful that we don't just praise ourselves. The games come thick and fast again after the international break." The Werkself Review has all the reaction and analysis of the 6-0 victory at the BayArena.
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