
“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.

The Bayer 04 Women welcome FC Carl Zeiss Jena to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Sunday night in a white retro look - and in a unique Bayer 04 ‘50 Years of Fan Clubs’ special edition jersey. In sporting terms, head coach Roberto Pätzold's team will face the Bundesliga's bottom team at 18:30 CET looking to keep their chances of third place in the table alive with six games left to play.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without the two strikers in the immediate future. Caroline Kehrer suffered a torn ligament in her right knee and Amy Wrigge tore her cruciate ligament.
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The #B04eSports players now have the next chance to win a trophy. After their elimination in the quarter-finals of the VBL Club Championship Final 2025/26, the German club championship, Marc and Sean Landwehr will compete with seven other teams in the finals of the DFB-ePokal 2026 with prize money totalling €65,000. The "highly motivated" Leverkusen team will face the defending champions FOKUS with well-known influencer Elias ‘EliasN97’ Nerlich in the quarter-finals in Frankfurt on Friday, 20 March (from 18:15 CET). The semi-finals and final will be played on Saturday, 21 March.
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Bayer 04 host Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal. The tie will be played on Wednesday, 22 April 2026, at the BayArena with the kick-off at 20:45 CEST. Information on ticket sales.
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Bayer 04 lost 2-0 at Arsenal FC in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg. Eberechi Eze (36') and Declan Rice (63') scored the goals for the Gunners. Despite a big effort – especially in the second half – the Werkself are out of the competition following the 1-1 draw in the first leg.
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