News in brief: Aránguiz sidelined with Achilles problem

Following the 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt, head coach Hannes Wolf gave the Werkself the chance to take a breather. The day after the game, only a few players came to the BayArena for treatment and post-match work with everybody then having Monday off. On Tuesday it was back to the training ground. With the temperature a pleasant 16 degrees and clear blue skies, the players completed a 70-minute session that focused on practice matches and finishing.

Sinkgraven: Twinge in his back

Long-term absentees Santiago Arias, Julian Baumgartlinger, Lars Bender and Timothy Fosu-Mensah were joined by another trio: Sven Bender, Daley Sinkgraven and Charles Aránguiz. While Sven Bender already missed the home game against Eintracht Frankfurt due to an ankle problem, Sinkgraven had a twinge in his back so the Dutch full-back trained on his own.

The same applied to our captain: "Charly has been battling with an Achilles problem for a while. This week gives us a chance to rest him for a couple of days," said Hannes Wolf who firmly believes that Aránguiz will be available for the match in Bremen on Saturday, 8 May.

Bender special: The Werkself Memory game

They are in the top ten of pairs of brothers with the most Bundesliga appearances and are known throughout the football world in Germany for their professionalism and reliability: Lars and Sven Bender. Born in Rosenheim, the duo have been together at Bayer 04 for four years. In their playing careers to date, they have clocked up an impressive 517 appearances in the top-flight. They celebrate their 32nd birthday today (Tuesday) and HERE is a birthday video from Bayer 04 TV. This will be their last as professional footballers as Lars and Sven announced they are retiring at the end of the season a few months ago.

On the event of the Bender twins birthday, Bayer 04 present a Werkself Memory game as a Bender special. Fans and followers of the Werkself can match pairs of photographs of Lars and Sven – and at the same time look back at plenty of emotional moments with the twins. Click HERE for the Werkself Memory game.

"You're simply brilliant!"

Lars and Sven are not known for their social media activity. Nevertheless, countless Werkself fans congratulated the two defensive stalwarts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Co. Messages included: "Happy birthday lads. Such great blokes like you are rare" or "You're simply brilliant!" We agree with that and say: Many happy returns and stay fit and healthy.