Before the start of the season, Charles Aránguiz took over the captain’s armband from Lars Bender, who gave up the role after five years. Peter Bosz has opted for a defensive duo as the vice-captains for the Chilean as the 56-year-old announced on Thursday night at the press conference after the 6-2 victory over Nice in the Europa League. Lars or Sven Bender will captain the team this season if the South America midfielder is unavailable. That happened in the second half at Mainz (1-0) and against Nice. For those 135 minutes, the armband was again worn by Lars, the older twin brother by a few minutes.
The Werkself team committee this season is made up of six players. The skipper and his two vice-captains are joined by experienced player Julian Baumgartlinger, Germany international Jonathan Tah and Wendell.
The 6-2 scoreline against Nice was not only a more than successful start to the new Europa League campaign but also the biggest win for Bayer 04 on the European stage. “I’m happy with the result,” said Bosz. Moreover: The Werkself are now unbeaten in 13 European games at the BayArena. And hopefully that will continue on 26 November against Hapoel Be’er Sheva – the Israelis sprang a surprise with their 3-1 win against Slavia Prague in their opening game on Thursday night.
As usual, UEFA published their top team of the Europa League matchday on Friday afternoon. In addition to Hoffenheim’s Christoph Baumgartner, who opened the scoring in the 2-0 win for TSG against Red Star Belgrade, UEFA also chose two Leverkusen players: Nadiem Amiri and Karim Bellarabi. Congratulations lads - you deserved it!
Daniel Schwaab played as a defender for the Werkself for four years and in his four seasons at Leverkusen (2009 to 2013) he made almost 100 Bundesliga appearances for Bayer 04. After his time under the Bayer Cross, the Waldkirchen-born joined VfB Stuttgart and then moved on to PSV Eindhoven where he played up to the summer. Schwaab has now decided to hang up his boots at the age of 32. “I’ve decided to stop because I want to dedicate myself to new challenges,” said the defender to kicker.
The German Football Association (DFB) wants to provide more transparency with refereeing decisions in the Bundesliga via a Twitter account. From the next matchday, information on intervention by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be published on Twitter at @dfbschiris. This is intended to enable “faster and better understanding of individual decisions.”
The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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