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.
Bayer 04 are away to Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb on Matchday 5 of the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League. The game kicks off on Thursday 26 November at 18:45 CET at the Maksimir Stadium. All the information on ticket sales.
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It wasn’t just on the pitch that there was cause for celebration around the Werkself’s 2–1 home win against SC Freiburg. Plenty of happy faces could be seen near the dugouts at half-time too. Once again, CEO Fernando Carro, alongside former striker and club ambassador Stefan Kießling, paid tribute to eight supporters’ clubs celebrating up to their 30th anniversary on behalf of Bayer 04.
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It was a match that will live long in the memory of everyone involved: The Bayer 04 U19s celebrated their seventh win in seven matches in the DFB Youth League preliminary round – and yet it was a very special victory indeed: in the 4–3 (1–1) win at VfL Bochum 1848, no fewer than five goals came in the final quarter of an hour. As the 90th minute approached, coach Patrick Greveraars’s side found themselves behind, but then fought back in true ‘Laterkusen’ style.
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Under Carles Martínez, the Werkself have so far proved unbeatable at the BayArena. The Spaniard has led his team to victory in all three of their most recent home matches – and, it's worth noting, without conceding a single goal. On Sunday, 18 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST / live on DAZN and Werkself Radio), current league leaders SC Freiburg will make the trip to Leverkusen, but will be without their top scorer. What's more, the Werkself have won all three of their previous home matches against the Black Forest club. With a goal, Patrik Schick could not only secure a fourth consecutive victory but also set a memorable record. Meanwhile, on what will be the ‘Health Day' at the BayArena, much of the focus will be on physical wellbeing. Today's matchday news.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 7 of the 2026/27 Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga.
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