Patrik Schick, Adam Hlozek and Lukas Hradecky are involved in the final group matches in the Nations League. Schick and Hlozek are in the Czech Republic squad for the game on matchday five against Portugal. The Czechs lost the first meeting 2-0 at the beginning of June. Switzerland are the opponents on matchday six. The Czech Republic team won their previous encounter 2-1. Schick, Hlozek and Co. are currently third on four points in Group 2 in League A.
Hradecky is with the Finland team for matches against Romania and Montenegro. The Finns recently beat Montenegro 2-0 but lost 1-0 against Romania. The Scandinavian side are third in the table on four points in Group 3 in League B. Montenegro are second (seven points) and Romania are bottom on three points.
Zidan Sertdemir is with the Denmark U19 squad for European championship qualifiers for next years finals in Malta. The 17-year-old and his teammates first play Georgia in Hjorring in Denmark and then there are matches against the youth teams from Montenegro and England every three days in Hobro.
The two Werkself players Jeremie Frimpong and Mitchel Bakker are set to play two friendlies with the Netherlands U21 side. Frimpong, Bakker and Co. first travel to Leuven to play Belgium on Friday 23 September (kick-off: 18.30 CEST). The Oranje then play Romania include Cluj on Tuesday 27 September (kick-off: 18.00 CEST).
Five other Werkself players are set to feature in friendly fixtures. Charles Aránguiz has again been selected by Chile and will play alongside his teammates on Friday and the following Tuesday against Morocco and Qatar. On the same day, Sardar Azmoun with Iran, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso and Piero Hincapie with Ecuador also have friendly matches. While Iran have their games in Austria, Tapsoba and Co. head off to Morocco.
Piero Hincapie and Ecuador first face Saudi Arabia in Murcia (Spain) with the kick-off at 19.00 CEST and four days later they are playing a few kilometres away from the BayArena. La Tri meet Japan (kick-off: 19.00 CEST) at the Merkur Spiel Arena in Düsseldorf.
Odilon Kossounou starts a day later: The defender with the Ivory Coast plays Togo on Saturday 24 September. The second friendly for the Ivorians is against Guinea on Tuesday 27 September. Both matches are to be played in France.
Internationals involving Bayer 04 players:
Charles Aránguiz (Friendlies)
23.09., 21.00 CEST, Morocco vs Chile, Barcelona
27.09., Qatar vs Chile, Vienna
Jeremie Frimpong and Mitchel Bakker (U21 friendlies)
23.09., 18.30 CEST, Belgium vs Netherlands, Leuven
27.09., 18.00 CEST, Romania vs Netherlands, Cluj
Zidan Sertdemir (U19 Euro qualifiers)
21.09., 14.00 CEST, Denmark vs Georgia, Hjorring
24.09., 18.00 CEST, Denmark vs Montenegro, Hobro
27.09., 14.00 CEST, Denmark vs England, Hobro
Patrik Schick and Adam Hlozek (Nations League)
24.09., 20.45 CEST, Czech Republic vs Portugal, Prague
27.09., 20.45 CEST, Switzerland vs Czech Republic, St. Gallen
Lukas Hradecky (Nations League)
23.09., 20.45 CEST, Finland vs Romania, Helsinki
26.09., 20.45 CEST, Montenegro vs Finland, Podgorica
Odilon Kossounou (Friendlies)
24.09., Ivory Coast vs Togo, Rouen
27.09., Guinea vs Ivory Coast, Le Havre
Sardar Azmoun (Friendlies)
23.09., Iran vs Uruguay, St. Pölten
27.09., Iran vs Senegal, Vienna
Edmond Tapsoba (Friendlies)
23.09., Burkina Faso vs Togo, Casablanca
27.09., Burkina Faso vs Togo, Casablanca
Piero Hincapie (Friendlies)
23.09., 19.00 CEST, Saudi Arabia vs Ecuador, Murcia
27.09., 19.30 CEST, Ecuador vs Japan, Düsseldorf
Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 have also dominated the division’s Team of the Season after football fans around the world named Jonathan Tah, Alejandro Grimaldo, Jeremie Frimpong, Granit Xhaka, Florian Wirtz and Victor Boniface in the Bundesliga’s best XI for 2023/24, in cooperation with EA Sports.
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Bayer 04 Women host Bayern Munich at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Saturday (kick-off: 12pm CEST) facing a familiar scenario. The visitors have the chance to be crowned champions in the Google Pixel Bundesliga, just like then they last came to Leverkusen 12 months ago. A goalless draw on that occasion saw Robert de Pauw’s side delay the title celebrations, and they want to do the same again with three games to go.
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Only a few hours after the Werkself’s 2-0 win away at Roma in the UEFA Europa League semi-final first leg, attentions turned to the next game as Bayer 04 visit Eintracht Frankfurt for Bundesliga Matchday 32 on Sunday (kick-off: 5.30pm CEST). Speaking at his press conference in Rome shortly before returning to Leverkusen on Friday morning, head coach Xabi Alonso talked about the strengths of six-placed Frankfurt and how the team will handle his touchline suspension.
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Robert Andrich’s brilliant goal in Rome came with the same right foot that he broke exactly a year ago in the same stadium. It was also only the second time Bayer 04 had won an away game in Italy, after victory at Udinese in the UEFA Cup in November 1999. Lots of subplots and a mature performance means hope of reaching the final in Dublin is high. We round up events in the Eternal City in our Werkself review.
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