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27.11.2018Bayer 04

Herrlich announces rotation for home game against Ludogorets

Bayer 04 are already through to the knock-out rounds so now it is all about winning the group. In Thursday's final home fixture in the Europa League group stage the Werkself entertain the Bulgarian champions Ludogorets (18.55 CET). Heiko Herrlich's team are looking to hold all the cards as leaders of Group A ahead of the final away game in Larnaca (13 December).
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"We said from the start we wanted to finish top of the group. Nothing's changed in that respect," said Heiko Herrlich after the Tuesday morning training session as he clearly set out the target for Thursday. Nevertheless, the Werkself head coach will use the confirmed progress to the Round of 32 to give some of the players with less match time under their belts the  opportunity to play against Ludogorets and "show what they can do and stake a claim for a place in the team."

The two Bender brothers missed full training in the first session of the week on Monday and instead completed individual sessions in the gym at the BayArena and Aleksandar Dragovic plus Jakub Bednarczyk trained on their own on a neighbouring pitch. Long-term injury Pohjanpalo (rehab training) and Tin Jedvaj (muscular problems) missed the Tuesday training session. A decision on the availability of the Croat for Thursday will be made after tomorrow's final pre-match training session.

The next and, at the same time, final open training session of the week will be held on Friday at 11.00 CET.

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