Following the 4-0 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt, 04 Black and Red players made it into the kicker "team of the day". Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah and Kai Havertz are in it for the second time this season, and Paulinho is selected for the first time. Kicker also named the Brazilian "player of the day": "After his three moments of brilliance", the "promise for the distant future has suddenly grown quite close."
The Sportschau takes a similar view and included Paulinho, Havertz and Karim Bellarabi in their "team of the matchday". The BILD also awarded top marks and picked out Tapsoba, Havertz and Paulinho with places in their "team of the day".
After just 04 minutes, Havertz was in the right spot in the Bundesliga game against Frankfurt as he converted a cross from Moussa Diaby to open the scoring. That strike was at the same time the 30th Bundesliga goal for the Bayer 04 playmaker. At the age of 20 years and 270 days, Havertz is the youngest player in the history of the Bundesliga to reach that number of goals. The previous record holder was no less than Klaus Fischer – when he set the record back in 1970 he was 15 days older than Havertz when he reached the same number of goals.
Two goals scored plus an impressive assist: By being directly involved in three goals and with a pass rate of 88%, Paulinho played a key role in achieving the seventh home win in succession across all competitions.
N.B.: No other player in Europe's top five leagues were involved in as many goals at the weekend.
Werkself head coach Peter Bosz was also happy with the performance of his team – and, as a reward, he gave his players Sunday off and there was no session planned for Monday before the game against Frankfurt. The only players at the BayArena yesterday were those needing treatment due to the after effects of the match.
Rangers won their last league game ahead of the first leg in the Europa League Round of 16 (Thursday, 12 March, 21.00 CET). The team under head coach Steven Gerrard secured a 1-0 win against Ross County last night. The only goal of the game and scored by Ryan Kent on 77 minutes.
The Werkself face Manchester City for the very first time on Tuesday for Matchday 5 of the league phase in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League (kick-off: 21:00 CET). The hosts sit fourth in the standings and boast huge quality in attack, while Leverkusen are looking to improve their meagre record of just one win from the last 10 games away at English clubs. A key player in that regard could be Aleix Garcia, the former City midfielder who ranks highly in several passing metrics in the Champions League this season. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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The Werkself's next European trip takes them to the north-west of England as Kasper Hjulmand's side take on Manchester City on Tuesday, 25 November (kick-off: 21:00 CET) on Matchday 5 in the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign. As usual, we'll take you along on the #aCROSSeurope journey and report from Manchester. All times listed are in CET.
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The dress rehearsal in the Premier League for the match against the Werkself did not go well at the weekend. However, Manchester City are still unbeaten in the UEFA Champions League, the competition they won in 2023. In the first encounter with Bayer 04 this Tuesday, 25 November (kick-off: 21:00 CET), coach Pep Guardiola will be able to field just about his best line-up. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Will the Bayer 04 U19s take the next step towards their first appearance in the knockout stage of the UEFA Youth League in the away game at Manchester City? Coach Kevin Brok is well aware of this historic opportunity, but he's not about to start worrying about the maths: "We're not concerned with the question of what might be good enough. We invest everything we can and always aim for the maximum. That's our way." The game on this penultimate Matchday 5 of the league phase takes place on Tuesday, 25 November (kick-off: 16:00 CET) at the Manchester City Academy Stadium. Werkself TV will be broadcasting the whole match exclusively for Bayer 04 club members live from 15:50 CET....
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€1,000 and food for a good cause: In keeping with the long-standing cooperation between Bayer 04 and the Tafel Leverkusen e.V. food bank, the U19s are also supporting the charitable organisation in the region. In addition to the generous cheque the team were able to donate to an organisation of their choice as a result of their participation in the UEFA Youth League, coach Kevin Brok's lads donated €500 worth of food - financed by their own team kitty. Ferdinand Pohl, Jesper Schlich and Co. also actively helped to stow the food in the Tafel's premises.
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