Exequiel Palacios and Argentina ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at home to Bolivia on Thursday night. It means the Albiceleste remain undefeated after eight games in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. The star of the show in Buenos Aires was once again Lionel Messi. The new Paris Saint-Germain forward scored all three goals. The Werkself’s Palacios joined the action in the 82nd minute. It means Argentina remain on course for Qatar in second place of South America’s ten-team qualification group.
However, new Leverkusen man Piero Hincapie is more unsure of his place at the next World Cup. The 19-year-old centre-back played the full 90 minutes for Ecuador as they slipped to an agonising 1-0 defeat in Uruguay. The hosts scored their winner two minutes into added time. La Tri are currently fourth in qualifying, which would be enough for an automatic place in Qatar. But Colombia are only behind them on goal difference in fifth.
Things look less auspicious for Chile and Werkself veteran Charles Aránguiz. They missed out on crucial points as they were beaten 3-1 in Colombia. Aránguiz joined the action for the start of the second half. La Roja currently sit eighth and are six points off fifth, which would see them compete in the inter-confederation play-off.
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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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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