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 highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
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The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
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Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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