Joachim Löw must know the Leverkusen dialling code by heart now as the Germany coach has selected the European Championship players Bernd Leno and Jonathan Tah plus Karim Bellarabi, Julian Brandt and Kevin Volland in his squad.
All five can hope to feature in Wednesday’s friendly against Finland in Mönchengladbach (20.45 CET) and in Sunday’s opening qualifier for the 2018 World Cup against Norway on Sunday (20.45 CET). Olympic silver medal Brandt has been promised a part in Löw’s team for the first match. “I liked the way the team played in Rio and that’s why I called up players like Süle, Meyer and Brandt. They will get the chance to play on Wednesday. By agreement with Hansi Flick one or other players will return to their clubs as they have all been working hard in recent weeks,” said Löw ahead of the team meeting up in Düsseldorf as reported on www.dfb.de.
The five German players are not the only players on the road this week with a total of 19 Werkself players called up for international duty. Joel Pohjanpalo is set to be in the Finland line-up against Germany after scoring two minutes into his debut for the Werkself. The Austria squad includes the three new signings Julian Baumgartlinger, Rambo Özcan and Aleksandar Dragovic.
One head-to-head and two debuts
There is one match of special interest from a Leverkusen point of view: As at Euro 2016 Croatia and Turkey face each other. Croatia with Tin Jedvaj won 1-0 in France so Hakan Calhanoglu and Co. will be looking for revenge. Admir Mehmedi has been called up by Switzerland and Kevin Kampl by Slovenia. And Vladlen Yurchenko can look forward to making his full international debut for Ukraine.
And Benny Henrichs is also about to make his debut: He has been called up for the Germany U21 squad under new coach Stefan Kuntz and Joel Abu Hanna is in the Germany U19 squad. And Charles Aránguiz will be in action in South America with Chile in the race for World Cup qualification.
Internationals involving Bayer 04 players:
Wednesday 31.08.
20.00 CET: Turkey v Russia (Calhanoglu)
20.45 CET: Germany v Finland (Leno, Tah, Bellarabi, Brandt, Volland || Pohjanpalo)
Thursday 01.08.
12.30 CET: Australia v Iraq (Kruse)
20.45 CET: Netherlands v Greece (Papadopoulos)
Friday 02.09.
02.00 CET: Paraguay v Chile (Aránguiz)
18.00 CET: Germany U19 v Russia U19 (Abu Hanna)
18.15 CET: Germany U21 v Slovakia U21 (Henrichs)
Sunday 04.09.
18.00 CET: Lithuania v Slovenia (Kampl)
20.45 CET: Norway v Germany (Leno, Tah, Bellarabi, Brandt, Volland)
Monday 05.09.
18.00 CET: Georgia v Austria (Özcan, Baumgartlinger, Dragovic)
18.00 CET: Germany U19 v Netherlands U19 (Abu Hanna)
20.45 CET: Croatia v Turkey (Jedvaj || Calhanoglu)
20.45 CET: Kosovo v Finland (Pohjanpalo)
20.45 CET: Ukraine v Iceland (Yurchenko)
Tuesday 06.09.
13.30 CET: UAE v Australia (Kruse)
18.00 CET: Finland U21 v Germany U21 (Henrichs)
20.45 CET: Switzerland v Portugal (Mehmedi)
20.45 CET: Gibraltar v Greece (Papadopoulos)
Wednesday 07.09.
01.00 CET: Chile v Bolivia (Aránguiz).
Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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They're well on their way to becoming German champions for the 35th time and once again proved their incredible class in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. This Saturday, 14 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayern Munich will be the visitors to the BayArena. It'll be a meeting of the two Bundesliga teams with the most dominant styles of play. A look at our opponents shows the visitors from the Bavarian capital have many strengths - but are also vulnerable.
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