Tonight's referee is the Frenchman Clement Turpin. This will be the second time the 40-year-old has been in charge of a game involving the Werkself. Turpin will have the support of his fellow countrymen Nicolas Danos and Cyril Gringore as assistant referees and Jerome Brisard is the VAR referee. Have a good game.
The Werkself have shown their ability to penetrate recently when the opponent has been Atlético Madrid: Leverkusen have won the last two Champions League matches against the Spanish side with both wins coming at home. The Rojiblancos are unbeaten against the Black and Reds in four European matches in Madrid – with two wins plus two draws from meetings in the Europa League and the Champions League.
The Spaniards have an even better record against German teams: Atlético Madrid have gone unbeaten in European competition in the last 11 home games against German clubs (eight wins, three draws). Borussia Dortmund were the last team to win in Madrid back in October 1996. In those eleven games, Atletico have only conceded four goals and never more than one per game. So the Spaniards are solid as ever at the back but less impressive up front recently: The Rojiblancos have not scored in the last three Champions League games. The last time they went four games without scoring in this competition was before Diego Simeone took the helm as head coach. That was between March and October 2009 when Abel Resino was in the dugout.
Just over four weeks ago, the two teams meeting in the first match between the Werkself and Atlético Madrid were not performing at the start of their league campaigns as expected. The Spaniards have made amends and are now again on top form: The Rojiblancos have picked up 13 out of a possible 15 points in La Liga and did not lose a single game in the league in October. The Madrid side have gradually moved up the table and are now the main pursuers of the two big clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona. More on the current form and line-up of the Spanish side can be found in our update on our next opponents.
Anyone unable to be at the game tonight can tune into Werkself Radio 30 minutes before kick-off. Cedric Pick is your commentator for the action in Madrid. There are also live text updates to keep you up-to-date with the match. Both Werkself Radio and the text updates can be found at bayer04.de as well as on the Bayer 04 app.
Bosnia U19 international Kerim Alajbegovic is moving from Bayer 04 Leverkusen's youth set-up to Red Bull Salzburg. The talented attacking midfielder has signed a long-term contract with the Austrian club. At the same time, the works club secured a buy-back option for the 17-year-old, who was one of the mainstays of the Leverkusen U19s.
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