“I’ve experienced great things and played in fantastic games for this club. I have grown very close to Bayer 04,” Karim Bellarabi said himself a few days ago. The eleven-time Germany international was unable to play against Borussia due to a muscle injury but he was a key element of the match on Sunday night in front of a full house at the BayArena.
Just before kick-off , the managing directors Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes presented him with a collage of photos from more than ten years under the Bayer Cross, the fans celebrated the crowd favourite with a striking Bellarabi song. During the 90 minutes of action on the pitch, Bellarabi supported his teammates as usual with great enthusiasm from the sidelines..
After the final whistle, Karim Bellarabi did a lap of honour with his teammates behind him – starting in front of the West Stand, then to the South Stand via the East Stand before finishing in front of the North Stand. Warm embraces with each and every fellow Werkself player was followed by climbing onto a podium at the home end.
Bellarabi was given a megaphone and he led the singing with thousands of Bayer 04 fans dressed in red. When he left the pitch at the BayArena for the last time as a Werkself player, “Karim Bellarabi – oh, oh, oh!” rang out from the stands…
Goalkeeper Andrey Lunev, Daley Sinkgraven, Ayman Azhil and Callum Hudson-Odoi also received farewells before kick-off. Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes thanked the four departing Werkself players for their time and commitment in a Bayer 04 shirt and also presented them with a photo collage.
Andrej Lunev joined Bayer 04 from Zenit St. Petersburg in the summer of 2021 and he made three appearances. The 31-year-old Russian has been ruled out through injury over recent months. Ayman Azhil started at the Black and Reds at the age of seven and he progressed through all the junior teams. With the exception of a two-year spell on loan at top-flight Dutch club RKC Waalwijk (2020-2022), Azhil, who played in one Bundesliga game, always remained loyal to Bayer 04.
Daley Sinkgraven can look back at four years in Leverkusen. The versatile Dutchman, signed from Ajax in 2019, made 78 appearances (six assists). Callum Hudson-Odoi joined the Werkself on loan from Premier League club Chelsea at the start of the season and the winger played 21 games and was involved in two goals for the Black and Reds.
Bayer 04 entertain third-placed VfB Stuttgart in the penultimate Bundesliga home game. The match at the BayArena is today Saturday 27 April (kick-off: 18.30 CEST/live on Sky and on Werkself Radio). The latest information on the game, with fans again asked to follow traffic information, is here in the news in brief.
Show moreAfter three consecutive weeks of playing midweek, the Werkself have been preparing for the top-of-the-table clash against VfB Stuttgart over the past few days. Ahead of the home game on Saturday 27 April (kick-off 18:30 CEST, live on Sky), head coach Xabi Alonso praised the third-placed visitors and gave an update on the state of the pitch as well as personnel.
Show moreThere's no question: VfB Stuttgart are one of the biggest surprises of this season and have delighted their fans with exciting, successful attacking football. After suffering a rare defeat at Bremen last weekend, third-placed VfB are looking to get back to winning ways in this Saturday's big match against the Werkself (kick-off 18:30 CEST). The visitors will be without their playmaker in midfield, though. A look at our next opponents...
Show moreWhether at school, in grassroots sports or at the football stadium – racism and discrimination of all kinds are still prevalent in our society. For this reason, Bayer 04 has been organising preventative school workshops on the subject of racism for many years. This week, one of these workshops took place at the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium not far from the BayArena as part of the Wiesdorf district matchday - and with a prominent guest: Werkself star Jonathan Tah worked intensively with the pupils on the topic. The German champion and international also spoke about his personal experiences with racism.
Show moreBayer 04 aren’t just the new champions of Germany but are also leading the way in engaging young fans after becoming the first Bundesliga club to release its own Pixi children’s book. Captain Lukas Hradecky and Josip Stanisic presented the 24-page publication entitled ‘Ein neuer Löwe für die Werkself’ (A new lion for the Werkself) at a reading for children in the BayArena's Schwadbud.
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