The strike partner feels empathy all the time – for a good reason: “Kieß isn’t just anybody, he’s a legend! It’s really hard to describe how important he is for us and the club. We all hope he’ll soon be fit again.”
Chicharito is in good shape again. The misery after the embarrassing 7-0 defeat for Mexico against Chile in the quarter-final of the Copa America is long gone and the 28-year-old is now totally focussed on his job at Bayer 04. “We’ve got a really good group,” he said before adding: “Our hunger for success is growing ever larger.”
Good for Chicha is not good enough
Last season could hardly have gone any better for the clinical Mexican. 17 goals in the league was a record in his career to date and the Werkself sealed third place by some distance. However, the early exit from the Champions League annoyed Chicharito. “One more goal against Barca and we would have gone through to the Round of 16.” No surprise that reaching the last sixteen of Europe’s premier club competition is high on his agenda for next term.
And what else? “I never set myself personal targets like a set number of goals,” he said but continued: “I still want to improve. That includes our position in the league. For example, Leicester proved to the world anything is possible in football.” It is clear to everybody at Bayer 04 that there is a long way to go to reach that goal. But the ambition to fight it out at the top is alive more than ever with the Werkself these days.
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 as he worked 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 personalised 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…
Show moreTo all Bayer 04 fans: The Fanwelt will be closed all day next Monday 30 June. This is due to preparations for the change of kit supplier from Castore to New Balance on Tuesday 1 July.
Show moreThe Norway U23 international Julie Jorde has completed the move from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Brøndby IF. The twelve-time champions of Denmark have signed the midfielder on permanent terms after her loan move from the Bundesliga to Denmark in the winter.
Show moreIt is almost two years since Bayer 04 new signing Abdoulaye Faye first stepped foot into the BayArena as a player for the Swedish club BK Häcken in the opening match in the 2023/24 Europa League campaign. A day before his nineteenth birthday, the central defender did not play in the 4-0 win for the Werkself but it was "an incredible night" for him on 21 September 2023 as he explained in his first interview on bayer04.de. "I watched the players and saw the fans. I liked it." It was also the first European night early on in his career. He only joined the then champions of Sweden in the cold north of Europe from his home in Senegal a few weeks before that special moment. Bayer04.de profiles our new defender.
Show moreWelcome, Abdoulaye Faye. The 20-year-old Senegalese central defender joins Leverkusen from top-flight Swedish club BK Häcken. In his first interview he talks about his move to Bayer 04 and his targets with the Werkself.
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