"Bayern did dominate but we had the better chances," was the assessment by Fernando Carro, the Bayer 04 CEO, of the 1-1 draw in Munich. (Here is a link to Carro's statements on BILD TV). Jeremie Frimpong again played a big part in those promising opportunities. The Werkself's Dutch full-back once again ceaselessly ran up and down the line on his flank, was relentless in his challenges and marked FC Bayern's world-class winger Kingsley Coman out of the game as best he could.
The 21-year-old was justifiably included in the kicker Team of the Matchday. The football journal awarded a high mark of 2 for Frimpong's performance. The Rheinische Post awarded the same mark to Jonathan Tah and Charles Aránguiz. The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger gave Edmond Tapsoba a 2.5.
Once a striker for the Werkself, Stefan Kießling is now involved with coordination of the senior squad at the Werkself. The Bayer 04 honorary captain has experienced a lot before and after the end of his playing career in the summer of 2018. The 38-year-old talks about that time and current issues involving the Bundesliga in today's edition of 'kicker meets DAZN'. The podcast is available now at kicker.de, on the kicker app as well as all usual podcast platforms.
Today (Monday), Bayer 04 congratulate Patrick Schnarwiler on his 49th birthday. The Werkself assistant coach moved under the Bayer Cross last summer from Switzerland together with head coach Gerardo Seoane. The duo won two league titles and the domestic cup competition with Young Boys Bern in their home country. Schnarwiler joined Young boys in 2019 from Grasshoppers where he was assistant coach with the first team and later head coach of the U21s. His post in Leverkusen is the first outside Switzerland – and it has proved to be very successful to date. Happy birthday, Patrik.
And former Werkself player Kurt Eigl celebrates his 68th birthday today. The Hockenheim-born player signed for Leverkusen after our Bundesliga promotion season in 1979/80. Before that he played for SV Darmstadt 98 and was at Hamburg SV for four years. The midfielder won the DFB Cup (1976) as well as the European Cup Winners Cup (1977) with the Hamburg. Many happy returns, Kurt.
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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