After yesterday's return of Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz and Jonathan Tah increased the training group to twelve, head coach Heiko Herrlich welcomed back Issac Kiese Thelin and Jakub Bednarczyk on Wednesday afternoon. The other international players Charles Aránguiz, Lukas Hradecky, Aleksandar Dragovic, Tin Jedvaj and Paulinho are expected back tomorrow. And the skipper Lars Bender is also due to return to full training after training on his own in the last open session of the week as he had done in the days before. "We hope he can help us on Saturday. But we'll have to see how he gets on in training," said Heiko Herrlich. The same could apply to Charles Aránguiz who did play for 45 minutes with Chile on Tuesday. The Bayer 04 head coach is hoping the 29-year-old will be option for the trip to Munich.
Lukas Hradecky has also gained match practice over the past week. After the 28-year-old keeper missed most of the pre-season and the start of the league campaign due to an operation on his jaw in July, he played two full games for Finland on Saturday and Tuesday – and he was unbeatable. Goalkeeping coach David Thiel, who watched Lukas at the games, confirmed the recent positive impressions. There is little standing in the way of a Werkself debut for the new signing on Saturday as Herrlich revealed after the Wednesday training session.
Ahead of the game against FC Bayern, the 46-year-old coach has organised four training sessions for Thursday and Friday – all are to be held behind closed doors.
Two games – two wins: Bayer 04 have picked up maximum points from their two matches so far in the league phase of the UEFA Europa League. What's more, of their previous 14 UEL matches, Bayer 04 have lost just one. Away to OFI Crete, Carles Martínez’s side are looking to add another successful performance on the European stage to their string of impressive displays. The Greeks, for their part, have been waiting four matches for a win, but Leverkusen should be on their guard: OFI’s most recent victory came against a German side. Today's matchday news.
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Ahead of Bayer 04's Europa League match away to OFI Crete in Greece, defender Jarell Quansah spoke to Werkself-TV...
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Brimming with confidence after five consecutive competitive wins, Bayer 04 face OFI Crete on Thursday evening, 22 October (kick-off: 19:45 local time, 18:45 CEST). Ahead of the UEFA Europa League clash on Greece’s largest island, head coach Carles Martínez spoke about the opposition and the late inclusion of Jonas Hofmann, whilst defender Jarell Quansah discussed the reasons behind the Werkself’s winning run.
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It couldn't have been any tighter! Despite winning four of six games in the online preliminary round in Showdown 1 of the VBL Club Championship 2026/27, Leverkusen eSports duo Marc and Sean Landwehr didn't make it through to the offline knockout round. Level on points (12) with seven other teams, Leverkusen were the only team with this points tally not to progress as they had the worst single-game record compared to their rivals.
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He's one of the leading figures of Leverkusen and the German economy: Werner Wenning rose from an apprentice at Bayer 04 to CEO of the global company. A childhood Werkself fan, he has held a position of responsibility at the club for many years as chairman of the shareholder committee of Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH. Today the Leverkusen native celebrates his 80th birthday. The entire Bayer 04 family offers its warmest wishes!
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