Around 700 fans attended the Werkself open training session at the start of the second week of the Easter holidays. While the players who started in the 1-1 draw at FC St. Pauli completed a reduced set of drills and were able to dedicate themselves earlier than the other players to meeting the wishes of the fans for autographs and photos, head coach Xabi Alonso continued leading the training session including practising moves in restricted spaces. Afterwards, Robert Andrich, Victor Boniface and Co. signed shirts and posters for the supporters.
Amine Adli fielded questions from the media following the training session. The 24-year-old declared: "Of course, we are not at all happy with the result and the way we played against St. Pauli, that's absolutely clear. Unfortunately there can be weaker phases like that over the course of the season from time to time." And he added: "We know how good we can be and we want to end the season as well as we can. We will work hard on that and give our all!"
The striker also shared his views on his own position: "I continue to feel very happy and I always give everything for the club, my teammates and our fans."
After the interviews, the 15-time Morocco international Adli congratulated his fellow countryman Nassim El Massoudi, from the Bayer 04 U17 squad, on winning the U17 Africa Cup of Nations: "I followed the games with excitement and was really happy about the win. I'm very proud of Nassim and his teammates and they have made a whole country proud! I hope we see each other again soon here at the BayArena and I wish him all the best for his future!" The Morocco youth team beat Mali on penalties in the final a few days ago.
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The remaining training sessions before the home game against FC Augsburg on Saturday, 20 April (kick-off: 15:30 CEST) will be held behind closed doors. The training session on Sunday at 11:00 CEST is open to fans (subject to change without prior notice).
After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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Newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg will begin the 2026/27 season as Bundesliga club number 59. The Saarland club start their first Bundesliga campaign at home to the Werkself on Saturday, 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST) at the URSAPHARM Arena on Kaiserlinde, which is currently being rebuilt. For one Leverkusen player in the ‘Elv’ line-up, the clash will be a special reunion. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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