
"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.

Ahead of the conclusion to the 2025/26 season with the Werkself and the World Cup with Argentina, Bayer 04 midfielder Exequiel Palacios answered questions from journalists from the Latin America region. In a digital media round, the 27-year-old, who's been in Leverkusen since 2020, spoke about the "great development potential" in the current Werkself squad as well as his World Cup ambitions with the Albiceleste, among other things.
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Full-back Julia Mickenhagen is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the end of the season to join Bundesliga newcomers VfB Stuttgart. The 21-year-old’s contract with the club expires on 30 June.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 3-1 win at RB Leipzig on the 25th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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Bayer 04 Women still have a chance of qualifying for the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time ever going into the final day of the season after a 3-1 win at RB Leipzig on Monday evening. The result took Roberto Pätzold’s side to within two points of Eintracht Frankfurt in third place. Cornelia Kramer, Katharina Piljic and Ruby Grant scored the goals for the Werkself’s fifth consecutive win that sets up a thrilling final matchday at home to Werder Bremen on Sunday.
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