June of last year. 10 months, 45 weeks or 317 days ago. Paulinho had just returned to Leverkusen after playing in an Olympic qualifier for the Brazil U23s. He felt he was “in good form” and “really integrated in the team” at that time. He was looking to play as many games as possible for Bayer 04 in 2020/21 and was working hard every day to achieve that target.
However, just before the DFB Cup final against Bayern Munich at the start of July, there was a massive setback in a training session in the shadow of the BayArena: a torn cruciate. A break of unpredictable length, rehab facilities instead of Bundesliga stadiums. Initially a big shock for the agile and technically-gifted football player from South America.
But giving up was not an option for Paulinho. At the Leverkusen ‘Werkstatt’, based in the BayArena, he started his individual programme – and with his comeback on the final matchday at Borussia Dortmund he made a positive finish to a season that will be one to forget for him.
In the thirteen-minute Bayer 04 TV documentary, the 20-year-old talks in detail about his time on the sidelines, the support of his family over those months. The Werkself team doctor Dr. Philipp Ehrenstein also shares his view, Carsten Rademacher (head of rehab therapy) and rehab coach Gregor Stumpf talk about getting the levels right in the sessions.
Exclusive insights into the rehab of our number 7 plus the home life with his Brazilian family in Germany – that and much more can be seen in ‘Never stop fighting’ on YouTube from Friday, 11 June at 16.00 CEST. HERE is the link.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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