In addition to the goalkeepers Lukas Hradecky and Patrick Pentz, Amine Adli, Sardar Azmoun, Adam Hlozek, Exequiel Palacios, Edmond Tapsoba plus Florian Wirtz returned to Leverkusen after international duty. New signing Jonas Hofmann, who joined Bayer 04 at the start of the month from league rivals Borussia Mönchengladbach, also returned to BayArena. The arrival of the international players produced happy faces and friendly greetings.
While the majority of the Werkself squad started with a 90-minute session in the gym at 10.30 CEST, Hofmann and Co. completed performance checks at the Werkstatt, the Bayer 04 rehab and training centre at the BayArena. The international players went through familiar medical tests and examinations as well as a range of diagnostic tests to check coordination, mobility and stability.
Granit Xhaka, who completed his first training sessions with the Werkself last week, also went through the performance tests.
The first training session of the week came in the afternoon with the Germany international Hofmann and the other international players also taking part after completing the performance tests. It was the first training session with the Werkself for the 31-year-old midfielder.
Head coach Xabi Alonso focused on passing in tight spaces at the start of the week. After an hour it was all over for Hofmann and Co. Following the intensive session, the players were happy to sign autographs and pose for selfies with the many fans in attendance omce again. The remaining members of he Werkself squad finished the day with a practice match.
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The other open training sessions on Tuesday (10.30 CEST), Wednesday (10.00 CEST) and Thursday (10.30 CEST) will be followed on Friday 21 July by the first friendly of the preseason. The Werkself play second division SC Paderborn 07 at the IMS Arena in Velbert. The kick-off is at 17.30 CEST and the match will be shown on Werkself TV, the Bayer 04 app and the club's YouTube channel free of charge.
The second European away game takes the Werkself to the Portuguese capital Lisbon. Kasper Hjulmand's team will face record champions Benfica on Wednesday, 5 November (kick-off: 20:00 GMT, 21:00 CET) on matchday 4 in the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League. As usual, we will take you along on the #aCROSSeurope journey and report from Lisbon. The times given are Central European Time.
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The Werkself beat Benfica 1-0 on Matchday 4 of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League league phase to seal three crucial points! Both teams had promising chances in the first half, but the contest was goalless at half-time. Substitute Patrik Schick headed in to score the only goal after the restart (65’). The home side went looking for an equaliser but Bayer 04 defended passionately to see out the storm.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 2-1 win against Hamburger SV on the 9th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Werkself consolidated their position among the top teams in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga thanks to a last-minute goal on Wednesday evening. Roberto Pätzold’s team beat Hamburger SV 2-1 at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Kristin Kögel (14’) and Caroline Kehrer (90’+5) scored for Bayer 04. The result takes Bayer 04 Women onto 19 points, third in the table behind top two Bayern Munich (25) and VfL Wolfsburg (22).
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One Bayer 04 player in particular is looking forward to the Werkself’s Champions League match away at Benfica on Wednesday 5 November (kick-off at 21:00 CET). Alejandro Grimaldo returns to his old stomping ground for the first time since he joined Bayer 04 two years ago. He encounters a Portuguese side that are unbeaten in the domestic league but under pressure in the UEFA Champions League having not taken any points, even under new coach José Mourinho. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in Lisbon.
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