As in the double matchday on the last weekend of the training camp in Zell am See-Kaprun, with the games against Watford and SD Eibar, Peter Bosz will again divide his squad into two teams with both line-ups playing the full 90 minutes. "We are already further ahead than we were at the training camp and you could see that in today's training session. It was no walk in the park – it was really hard work. But that's what the pre-season has to be about," said the head coach. "On Sunday, we have to make sure we avoid the mistakes we made in the previous friendlies. We want to be better and work on our game."
Anybody wanting to get a double helping of the Werkself on Sunday can purchase tickets for the matchday for three euros at the Bayer 04 shop in Wiesdorf (Wiesdorfer Platz 9, 51373 Leverkusen) or at the Fan House (Breidenbachstraße 46, 51373 Leverkusen). Proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to the Leverkusen Fan Project.
Our opponents:
Heracles Almelo:
Almelo finished seventh in the Eredivisie last season. The club top scorer was the Spanish striker Adrian Dalmau with 19 goals. The team is managed by Frank Wormuth, who previously worked for the DFB as the Germany U20 coach and also as head of coach training. Bayer 04 coach Peter Bosz was twice in charge at Heracles, from 2004 to 2006 plus 2010 to 2013. Almelo reached the third qualifying round of the Europa League in 2016 but were knocked out after two draws with FC Arouca (1-1 and 0-0).
Vitesse Arnhem:
Peter Bosz also coached Vitesse from 2013 to January 2016 before moving on to Israel to take the helm at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Arnhem were fifth in the Eredivisie last season but missed out on qualification for the Europa League in the play-offs with a 2-0 defeat against Utrecht. The top scorer in the league last term was Bryan Linssen with twelve goals and the Norwegian Martin Ödegaard, on loan from Real Madrid, found the back of the net eight times. In 2017, Vitesse won the Dutch domestic cup competition with a 2-0 victory in the final against AZ Alkmaar. The current Arnhem coach is Leonid Sluzki, who previously was the Russia coach at Euro 2016. Bayer 04 beat Vitesse 4-0 in a friendly during the pre-season in 2013.
Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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They're well on their way to becoming German champions for the 35th time and once again proved their incredible class in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. This Saturday, 14 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayern Munich will be the visitors to the BayArena. It'll be a meeting of the two Bundesliga teams with the most dominant styles of play. A look at our opponents shows the visitors from the Bavarian capital have many strengths - but are also vulnerable.
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Sofie Zdebel is up for the Goal of the Month award for February on ARD-Sportschau. Fans have until 21 March (19:00 CET) to vote for the Germany U23 international's volley to make it 2-0 in the Bayer 04 Women's derby against FC Köln (2-1).
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