Lukas Hradecky and Co. spent around 90 minutes mainly on moves in tight spaces and they finished with work on set pieces. Midfield dynamo Robert Andrich trained on his own on Tuesday due to a knock in the match against Hertha Berlin (2-1) but the 27 year-old today completed all the drills with the squad. Absent from the pitch were Karim Bellarabi, who completed an individual session, as well as Sardar Azmoun who is sidelined with a cold.
It's time again for another edition of the YouTube format 'Nachgefragt' quiz. The subject under discussion: Which superpower would you like to have? The answers from Charles Aránguiz, Jonathan Tah, Sardar Azmoun and Co. are HERE.
Bayer 04 today congratulates Robert Kovac on his 48th birthday. The Croat signed for Leverkusen from FC Nürnberg in the 1996/97 season. The central defender made a total of 162 appearances for the Black and Reds before moving on to FC Bayern in 2001. The former Werkself player was assistant coach to his brother Niko Kovac at Bayern Munich from 2018 to 2020. His last club was AS Monaco.
Michael Ortega is 31 today. The Colombian joined the Werkself on loan from Atlas Guadalajara for the 2011/12 season. The midfielder made his debut on 18 February 2012 in the 4-1 home win against FC Augsburg. At the end of the season, the former Colombia U20 international returned to his original club and the midfielder then spent a season on loan at the then second division club VfL Bochum. Ortega currently plays for the Colombian top-flight club Deportivo Cali.
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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