
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.
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.
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.
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.

The Werkself conceded a goal at home for the first time since the beginning of January 67 minutes into the game against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday. Jarell Quansah levelled late on for the final score of 1-1 to secure a point and avoid a first home defeat in six games. Bayer 04 were very critical of their performance after the game. The Werkself review.
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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 special edition jerseys to fan banners, the home game against Mainz 05 was all about the many Bayer 04 fan clubs. Accordingly, a fitting tribute to the long-standing Werkself supporters was not to be missed during half-time in the Bundesliga match. Fernando Carro, CEO, honoured the up to 50-year anniversaries of six fan clubs in front of the coaches' benches at the BayArena.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-1 draw against Mainz 05 on Matchday 24 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...

A late goal secured a point for Bayer 04 at home to FSV Mainz 05 in a match that saw the Black and Reds dominant in the second half. Despite lots of possession, the Werkself initially found few gaps and fell behind after 67 minutes when Sheraldo Becker scored in a Mainz counter-attack. In the closing stages, Leverkusen threw everything forward once again and equalised through Jarell Quansah (88').
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