Players coming back from injury are making progress: Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who wasn't on the pitch yesterday, completed the majority of drills with his teammates on Tuesday. And Amine Adli, who was working with the ball on his own at the start of the week, also completed one or two drills under head coach Gerardo Seoane.
In addition, Piero Hincapie returned to Germany from South America on Tuesday. The 19-year-old Ecuador international tested positive for Covid-19 over Christmas and then had to self-isolate in his home country. A decision will be taken in the next few days over his inclusion in the squad for the game against Union Berlin on Saturday, 8 January.
There is a new Black and Red video on YouTube that is guaranteed to raise a smile. The Werkself players Jonathan Tah and Nadiem Amiri try in a TWO FACE riddle to work out as quickly as possible the identity of two stars that are merged together in one photo. Who is quicker? And who were Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Zinedine Zidane and Rapper Drake merged with? HERE is the video.
Odilon Kossounou had already gained experience as a professional footballer in different countries on his way to Leverkusen: The defender moved from his home country of Ivory Coast to Sweden in January 2019. FC Brugge soon became aware of the tall Ivorian and tempted him to Belgium after six months. Kossounou stayed with the top club from the neighbouring country for two years before following the call from the Werkself in the summer.
He has made 20 appearances for the Black and Reds to date. He is spending his 21st birthday today in his home country where he was preparing with the Ivory Coast national team for the African Cup of Nations due to start in a few days. Many happy returns and good luck.
The second birthday boy of the day, Toni Kroos, no longer plays for the Black and Reds. In his 18 months on loan under the Bayer Cross, the Greifswald-born midfielder laid the foundations for his career as a world-class player. Having arrived from Bayern Munich in January 2009, the playmaker made 43 appearances for the Werkself in the Bundesliga (10 goals, 13 assists).
After returning to FC Bayern, Kroos was champion of Germany and also DFB Cup winner three times each. In 2014, in the year of his move to Real Madrid, he won the World Championship title with Germany. Kroos won the Champions League for the second, third and fourth time with the Spanish club and also picked up numerous national titles. The former Leverkusen today celebrates his 32nd birthday. Many happy returns and here's to many more successful years, Toni.
The Werkself host Bayern Munich at the BayArena on matchday 26 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The match is on Saturday, 14 March, with the kick-off at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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Bayer 04’s four-game winning run in all competitions came to an end with a 1-1 draw away at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Bundesliga Matchday 21. Yannik Engelhardt scored early for the hosts, but an own goal from Philipp Sander brought the Werkself back level before the break.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 0-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt on the 17th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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Bayer 04 have a score to settle with Borussia Mönchengladbach after their late equaliser in the reverse fixture. But it’s been a while since the points were shared in this fixture at Borussia-Park, where the Werkself have won their last six visits – their best run ever away at a team in the Bundesliga. Victory in Saturday evening’s game (18:30 CET) would also be the team’s fifth in a row in all competitions and their best run this season, while Gladbach are only just above the bottom three after going four games without a win. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the evening’s encounter in our matchday news.
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