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 conceded a goal at home for the first time since the beginning of January 67 minutes into the game against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday. Jarell Quansah levelled late on for the final score of 1-1 to secure a point and avoid a first home defeat in six games. Bayer 04 were very critical of their performance after the game. The Werkself review.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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From special edition jerseys to fan banners, the home game against Mainz 05 was all about the many Bayer 04 fan clubs. Accordingly, a fitting tribute to the long-standing Werkself supporters was not to be missed during half-time in the Bundesliga match. Fernando Carro, CEO, honoured the up to 50-year anniversaries of six fan clubs in front of the coaches' benches at the BayArena.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-1 draw against Mainz 05 on Matchday 24 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
A late goal secured a point for Bayer 04 at home to FSV Mainz 05 in a match that saw the Black and Reds dominant in the second half. Despite lots of possession, the Werkself initially found few gaps and fell behind after 67 minutes when Sheraldo Becker scored in a Mainz counter-attack. In the closing stages, Leverkusen threw everything forward once again and equalised through Jarell Quansah (88').
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