The Werkself lost 1-0 in the semi-final first leg in Rome. Both teams gave nothing away from the start of the match at the Stadio Olimpico and clear-cut chances were few and far between. Edoardo Bove scored the only goal of the game on 63 minutes.
The stats for AS Roma in away games in Germany are very promising from a Bayer 04 perspective: The Italian club has only won two of their last 15 away games against German clubs in European competitions (one draw, 12 defeats). These wins were against FC Nürnberg in 1988 and Hamburg SV in 2000 – the Italians have failed to win in their last five European games in Germany (one draw, four defeats).
It was an almost picture-perfect matchday for Roma. Nearly all their direct rivals for European spots dropped points in the Serie A at the weekend. The defeats for Atalanta (1-0 at US Salernitana) and AC Milan (0-2 at Spezia Calcio) plus the draw for city rivals Lazio (2-2 against Lecce) played into the hands of the team under coach José Mourinho. But AS Roma, in seventh place ahead of matchday 35, were unable to fully take advantage of the situation. The Giallorossi only managed a 0-0 draw away to Bologna on Sunday evening. Nevertheless, Roma were able to move above Atalanta into sixth place in Serie A, two points behind AC Milan in fifth and Lazio in fourth. Qualification for the Champions League via Serie A is highly unlikely with three games to play. The route to the Champions League – as for the Werkself – is exclusively via winning the Europa League. The team news and how Mourinho has prepared the AS Roma players for tonight’s match can be found in our lowdown on our next opponents.
In addition to the many, many Werkself fans, other special Black and Red supporters will be at the BayArena as Bayer 04 has invited the UEFA Cup winners from 1988 to the game. That includes Reiner Calmund, Gerd Kentschke, Falko Götz, Thomas Hörster, Knut Reinhardt and Rüdiger Vollborn. Today’s date is also a good omen: The Werkself celebrated their title win exactly 35 years ago on 18 May 1988. Who knows, perhaps the honoured guests may bring us luck. At least they know how to win a European competition...
Anyone wanting to know the key stats and facts ahead of the clash with the Italian side can take a look at the matchday magazine. It is available at the BayArena and also free of charge online. HERE is the e-paper.
UEFA has appointed Slavko Vincic as the referee for the second leg. This will be the first time the 43-year-old Slovenian has been in charge of the game involving the Werkself. He will be assisted by his fellow countrymen Tomaz Klancnik and Andraz Kovacic on the touchline and the VAR official is Nejc Kajtazovic - also from Slovenia..
To ensure that all fans can be in their seats for the start of the game and to avoid long queues at the turnstiles, Bayer 04 request supporters to arrive in good time at the BayArena.
Anyone unable to be at the game today: RTL are broadcasting the match in Germany on free TV with the programme beginning at 20.15 CEST. As usual, Werkself Radio is also available. The audio broadcast starts 30 minutes before kick-off with commentary provided by Cedric Pick and Niko Hartmann.
You can also keep up-to-date via live text commentary to ensure you don’t miss any of the action. Both Werkself Radio and the live text update service are available at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app.
The weekend, including the Bundesliga home game against Borussia Mönchengladbach, is round the corner. Before the Werkself play the last home game of the season at the BayArena on Sunday evening (19.30 CEST), sporting managing director Simon Rolfes and his predecessor Rudi Völler (now DFB sporting director) will be live on TV. Rolfes is on the broadcast ‘Lage der Liga’ (Situation in the league) on BILD TV from 09.00 CEST, Völler is on the SPORT1 programme ‘Doppelpass’ from 11.00 CEST. Both broadcasts are available free of charge onlin
After being nominated for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025, Martin Terrier's wonderful strike for the opener against FC Köln is now also up for selection for the ARD Sportschau Goal of the Month award for December 2025. Bayer 04 fans have until 19:00 CET on 10 January to vote for the French forward.
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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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43 points at the end of the last Bundesliga season were not only more than ever before for the Bayer 04 Women, but also led to a record fourth-place finish. That was followed by a Hinrunde with many more victories, but also some setbacks. In an interview with bayer04.de, sporting director Achim Feifel takes stock at the end of the year.
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With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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