
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.

It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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Bayer 04 have won each of their last five competitive encounters with 1. FC Köln, and it's around seven years since their last defeat in the cathedral city. That said, the hosts are in strong form at home and will make it anything but easy for the Werkself at the RheinEnergieSTADION on Sunday afternoon (kick-off 15:30 CET). The Matchday News.
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