The winger was in the starting eleven on Monday night for the France U21s in Azerbaijan. The game ended in a 2-1 victory that saw Moussa Diaby and Co. secure important points in the race to qualify for the U21 European Championships next year. France remain second in Group 2 but are top in the rankings of the second-placed teams – making qualification for the Euros appear almost certain.
Also on Monday night, Austria entertained Romania in the Nations League. Werkself stalwart Julian Baumgartlinger led his team onto the field as captain with Aleksandar Dragovic on the bench this time. Austria were unable to build on their 2-1 win in the opening game against Norway; they suffered a 3-2 defeat against Romania. Baumgartlinger and Co. are now second in Group 1 (League B).
There was a double blow for the Germany U21s, with Werkself keeper Lennart Grill in the side, in the middle of the first half against Belgium. Central defender Amos Pieper was shown a red card on 18 minutes for a professional foul and the resulting free kick ended up in the back of the net (19'). Lukas Nmecha levelled for Germany on the half-hour mark. However, the hosts succeeded in clocking up a 4-1 win. Grill and Co. now have to worry about qualifying for the U21 European Championships. Germany are currently fifth in the ranking of second-placed teams – the last position that ensures qualification for the Euros.
There was a repeat of the 2018 World Cup final in Paris on Tuesday night. World Cup winners France entertained Croatia in League A (Group 3) of the Nations League – and again left the pitch as winners. At the end of an entertaining encounter, the French side secured a 4-2 victory. Werkself player Tin Jedvaj did not play for Croatia on the night.
In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
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Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
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This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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