After last week's days without games or training, head coach Xabi Alonso welcomed a small group to training in a cool four degrees on Monday morning for the first session of the week. The Spaniard brought in a number of Bayer 04 youth players to fill out the group. Madi Monamay has already returned from international duty with the Belgium U18 side. The defender was on the winning side with Belgium against England and South Korea, both times on penalties, and he led the team out as captain against England.
Alonso particularly focused on passing and finishing in the first training session of the week. The 41-year-old manager was able to witness impressive attacking moves from Alejandro Grimaldo, Nathan Tella, Nadiem Amiri and Edmond Tapsoba. Patrik Schick, who completed the full session as he continues working on his comeback, looked sharp in front of goal as he converted a number of crosses.
The Bayer 04 squad will be putting in hard shifts over the next few days in intensive sessions ahead of the Bundesliga match at the weekend. Several Werkself players, including Granit Xhaka, Josip Stanisic, Adam Hlozek and Matej Kovar, are expected back in Leverkusen on Wednesday and they will then join in preparations for the away match in Wolfsburg. The remaining Werkself players on international duty will be back with the team towards the end of the week.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 0-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of the women's DFB-Pokal 2026/27
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career working as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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Having previously recorded six consecutive home wins across all competitions, Bayer 04 suffered their first home defeat of 2026/27 as they went down 4-2 to VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Matchday 8. The visitors capitalised on their first two chances to score, with Ermedin Demirovic and Jamie Leweling finding the net in the first half. Although Patrik Schick got a goal back in the first half, Bilal El Khannouss and Demirovic again added further goals for Stuttgart. Bayer 04 didn’t give up, but Ibrahim Maza’s goal proved little more than a consolation.
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Fans at the BayArena got to enjoy a spectacle on Wednesday as the Werkself came from behind to beat Nürnberg 5-2 in the DFB Pokal. Now with the sixth home game of the season, can Bayer 04 maintain their perfect record in Leverkusen as VfB Stuttgart come to town in the Bundesliga on Saturday (15:30 CET)? The visitors have had issues domestically this term, sitting in 15th place, although they have had much better results in the UEFA Champions League. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 8 encounter…
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The Bayern Munich women’s football team are unbeaten in all domestic competitions in the last 62 matches. On Sunday (15:00 CET), the Bayer 04 women’s team will make their next attempt to end the holders unbeaten run in the DFB Pokal Round of 16 tie. For coach Roberto Pätzold, there are a number of factors that give the Werkself cause for optimism despite the high-calibre opposition.
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