After the runaway 5-1 victory over Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga on Friday night, Peter Bosz decided to give his players the weekend off. And that meant the Werkself only returned to work on Monday morning – that involved analysis of the Mainz match and a 90-minute session on the training ground. In wet and blustery conditions, the Black and Reds worked on passing, shooting and positional play. That was followed in the afternoon by the first preparations for the clash with team currently lying second in the top-flight in Russia.
Birthday boy Jonathan Tah was joined on the training ground by Julian Baumgartlinger. The 31-year-old Austrian suffered a broken nose in a challenge late-on at Mainz and he underwent an operation the next day. In spite of bruising under his left eye,the midfielder completed the full session just two days later. "In the positional play we put Baumi a bit more out on the flanks to keep him out of challenges," explained Bosz. A protective mask is due to be delivered to Leverkusen this afternoon and the Werkself number 15 is set to wear it for the next few games. It remains to be seen if Baumgartlinger will be in the line-up in Krasnodar. "We have to be prepared for a physical game in Krasnodar with lots of challenges. But I think he'll be able to travel."
Unlike the skipper Lars Bender, who again missed training due a thigh injury and he may well be ruled out for the first leg in the southern Russian city. Joel Pohjanpalo (rehab after ankle in jury) and Panagiotis Retsos are also sidelined. The latter was wearing his boots again on Monday afternoon on the road to recovery following a thigh injury – the 20-year-old completed a session on the training ground with the ball under medical supervision.
The working week for the Werkself players and coaches started with a photo session for the new team photo.Head coach Peter Bosz, his assistant Hendrie Krüzen and fitness coach Terry Peters were joined by youth player Jan Boller. The 18-year-old defender was in the Bayer 04 first team squad for the first time for the DFB Cup tie at Heidenheim.
The team departs for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Monday for the Bayer 04 Brazil Tour 2025 from July 14-24. The preseason journey marks a change from recent training camps in the Austrian Alps and Black Forest and we caught up with CEO Fernando Carro to ask him about this summer's visit to Brazil.
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Malik Tillman and the USA could not quite achieve the hoped-for big win in their own country. Last Monday’s final in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in Houston ended up in a 2-1 defeat for the hosts against Mexico. But the Bayer 04 new signing can be very happy with the course of the tournament and his own performances. Tillman was in the starting line-up for all six games. That concluded an impressive season for him after winning the Eredivisie title in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven. Bayer04.de profiles the 23-year-old new signing.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed the USA international Malik Tillman. The 23-year-old attacking midfielder joins the Werkself from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven. Tillman, with German roots and born in Nuremberg, has a contract at Leverkusen to 30 June 2030. He scored 16 goals and provided five assists in 34 games for PSV last season. Three of those goals and two assists were in six matches in the UEFA Champions League.
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The second friendly and the first goal for the Bayer 04 Women: The Werkself just missed out on their first win in the preseason away to top-flight Dutch side PEC Zwolle. The team led by coach Roberto Pätzold drew 1-1 on Friday afternoon in Wezep. As with the friendly against TSG Hoffenheim (0-2) a number of first-team players were absent. The coach once again shared out time on the pitch for the 20-player squad. The goal of the match was scored by summer signing Vanessa Fudalla (67').
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