
There was bad news in the morning session. Jedvaj held onto his left thigh after a sprinting drill just before the end of training and he left the pitch for the dressing room with a concerned look on his face. An MRI scan in the afternoon revealed the 22-year-old Croat had pulled a muscle and that may rule him out of the top game of matchday 26 against Gladbach. "It's annoying for Tin and it puts him and us back a bit. He's very flexible and can play as a central defender or full back and he's done both very well recently. But you can't do anything about it," said a clearly concerned Herrlich. How long the Bayer 04 head coach will have to manage without Jedvaj remains to be seen.
Both Charles Aránguiz (knee) and Sven Bender, who was substituted at half-time in the 2-1 win at Wolfsburg due to a back problem, have not trained with the squad this week. The duo worked on their own on Monday and Tuesday. "I'm very optimistic that Sven and Charly were able to play on Saturday. We want to take care of them and avoid taking any risks," said Herrlich in describing a "purely preventative measure."The same goes for the skipper Lars Bender and Wendell (private reasons) and they did not join in with the morning session on Tuesday.They did return to full training in the afternoon.

The Werkself need a win in their penultimate match of the season at RB Leipzig on Monday evening (18:00 CEST) to keep their hopes of third place alive until the final day. After Eintracht Frankfurt lost on Saturday, Roberto Pätzold's side can close the gap on their rivals to two points and leave it all to play for next Sunday.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-3 loss at VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 33 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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Down to fifth from fourth place despite taking an early lead: in the head-to-head for a Champions League spot, Bayer 04 were 1-0 up at VfB Stuttgart with just a minute played thanks to an Aleix Garcia strike, but ultimately lost 3-1 (2-1) to the more determined hosts. It meant the Swabians leapfrogged the Werkself in the Bundesliga table on the penultimate matchday.
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Today sees Bayer 04 go head-to-head with their next direct rivals in the race for Champions League qualification (kick-off 15:30 CEST). Opponents Stuttgart are currently fifth in the table, level on points with the Werkself but one place below them due to a three-goal inferior goal difference. The Black and Reds' record at Bad Cannstatt tells a clearer story: they've not lost at VfB for over 16 years. One important factor in securing what would be three crucial points away from home is Leverkusen's strength on the counter-attack. Whilst Stuttgart are also extremely dangerous going forward, they will be without their captain. Today’s matchday news.
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