News in brief: Club record in front of goal

Sardar Azmoun and Exequiel Palacios found the back of the net in Saturday's 4-1 away win at SpVgg Greuther Fürth. It was the first Bundesliga goal in the current season for both of them. That means a total of 18 different players have scored for the Werkself since matchday one – a club record.

Since the first Bundesliga season in 1963/64, only two teams have had more goalscorers in a season: Bayern Munich in 2017/18 (19 goalscorers) plus Werder Bremen in 2007/08 (20).

can Hradecky do a Butt?

It is possible there will be other Leverkusen first goals in the current campaign scored by Odilon Kossounou, Daley Sinkgraven, Julian Baumgartlinger – and, of course, our captain and goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky. The Finland international has never scored a goal in a competitive match but he could follow on from one of his predecessors in goal: Hans Jörg Butt. The four-time Germany international, at Leverkusen from 2001 to 2007, netted seven times for the Werkself. All from the penalty spot…

top marks for Azmoun

Back to the full-time goalscorers – in the shape of Sardar Azmoun. The winter signing from Zenit St Petersburg scored his first goal in a 04 shirt in his sixth Bundesliga appearance. The Iran international made it 2-1 and also provided the assist for Paulinho at 3-1. The football journal kicker named the 27-year-old forward the Man of the Match and also included him in the kicker team of the matchday. The reason for his inclusion: "Sardar Azmoun set his team on course for victory and also impressed as the instigator of a lot of attacking moves."

The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger also highlighted Azmoun’s display, while the Rheinische Post assessed his performance with the top mark of 1: "The Iranian demonstrated […] the right instinct. And he was also involved in lots of good moves as the 'stand-in number 10'." Long may it carry on.

50 up

The away game in Fürth was also special for goalscorer Paulinho: The 21-year-old made his 50th Bundesliga appearance for Bayer 04. He joined the Werkself in the summer of 2018 from Vasco de Gama Rio de Janeiro and the winger made his first appearance in Germany's top flight in a 3-1 home defeat against VfL Wolfsburg at the start of September 2018.

After recent years hit by injury, Paulinho has already made 21 league appearances this season. The Olympic gold medal winner has scored three times and also provided two assists. He has also played in six matches in the Europa League and one in the DFB Cup.

century completed

Milena Nikolic has played twice as many games as Paulinho in the Bundesliga for the Bayer 04 Women's team. The 29-year-old Bosnia and Herzegovina international joined Leverkusen in the summer of 2019 after three years in the top-flight at SC Sand. 56 of her 100 Bundesliga appearances have been in Black and Red. The Werkself Women's team took the lead in Sunday's away defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt but ended up losing 2-1 against the fourth-place Champions League hopefuls from Frankfurt.

happy birthday twice

Today (Monday), the two former Werkself centre forwards Emrehan Gedikli and Sebastian Helbig celebrate their birthdays. Gedikli joined Bayer 04 as a seven-year-old and progressed to the senior squad at Leverkusen. The Oberhausen-born forward made four appearances including three in the UEFA Europa League. The now 19-year-old Gedikli joined the Turkish league leaders Trabzonspor at the start of February. Many happy returns, Emre.

Helbig joined Leverkusen in the summer of 1995 and he mainly played for the second team. Signed from the Rot-Weiß Erfurt U19s, the centre forward made three senior appearances: two in the Bundesliga and one for the full 90 minutes in a Champions League group match against AS Monaco in December 1997 (2-2). Helbig returned to Erfurt six months later and the former Leverkusen player finally retired from professional football in 2010. Many happy returns on your 45th birthday.