News in brief: Full house at the BayArena – Benders return to their roots

A large number of Werkself players returned to the training ground in time for the first full session of the week of the opening match of the season. In the morning session in the shadow the BayArena, Olympian Nadiem Amiri, EURO 2020 player Joel Pohjanpalo and Copa América participant Charles Aránguiz were all back. Head coach Gerardo Seoane welcomed a total 24 of 29 first team players.

Exequiel Palacios, winner of the Copa América with Argentina, has also returned to Leverkusen. After two individual sessions on Monday, the midfielder trained inside the BayArena away from the main group. "It might be too early for him to play at the weekend. Perhaps we’ll give Pala another week of training," said Seoane in reference to the DFB Cup tie at Lokomotive Leipzig on Saturday, 7 August (kick-off: 15.30 CEST).

The 22-year-old only returned a few days ago after the Copa América and his three-week break. Bayer 04 TV accompanied Palacios on his individual training programme in the Werkstatt at the BayArena. HERE is the video.

Olympic games: Paulinho and Brazil in the final

Also missing from the training ground were the injured Edmond Tapsoba and Timothy Fosu-Mensah plus Leon Bailey and Paulinho. The latter is currently taking place in the Olympic Games football tournament in Japan – and is already certain of a medal.

The Selecao progressed to the final this morning after beating Mexico. With Paulinho, who played up to the 67th minute, the favourites won on penalties. The final against Spain is on Saturday, 7 August at 13.30 CEST.

goal of the month: Schick is the winner

You can call him a well deserved winner: Werkself centre-forward Patrik Schick successfully beat the competition for the prestigious vote for Goal of the Month of June on the ARD Sportschau. Of the 150,000 votes cast, almost half went to Schick's EURO 2020 goal against Scotland from almost 50 metres out. That means our number 14 won by a street. Congratulations!

Moreover: The vote for the Bayer 04 Goal of the Month for July starts on Tuesday night. Werkself fans again have the opportunity to choose their favourite Black and Red goal. Schick is also in the running for this one. Votes can be cast on the Bayer 04 Facebook page up to Thursday afternoon.

Comeback for Bender brothers

They just can't manage without football: Lars and Sven Bender only hung up their boots in May but just over two months later the long-standing Leverkusen players are back on the pitch – even though it is nine leagues below. The Bayer 04 honorary captain Lars and his twin brother Sven made their surprise debut for their hometown club of TSV Brannenburg in the tenth tier of German football. Both were in the starting line-up for the 5-2 home win against ASV Flintsbach.

The 32-year-olds learned to play football as children in Brannenburg where they played for TSV for six years before moving onto 1860 Munich via Unterhaching. Everything about the career of the Bender brothers from their first club in Brannenburg to the emotional end of their career as professional players this summer is in the Bayer 04 documentary 'BENDER – The Inseparables.' HERE is the documentary.

happy birthday!

There are two Black and Red birthdays on this Tuesday: Achim Feifel, head coach of the Women’s team, is 57. The football coach and sports teacher took over the Women's Bundesliga team at Hamburg SV in 2005 before moving onto the Russian top-flight and Champions League participants FC Rossiyanka in 2012. Feifel return to Germany after a year in Russia. He has been at the helm of the Werkself Women since 2019. Happy birthday, Achim.

The second is Werner Röhrig. The Leverkusen-born player was the Bayer 04 captain for many years including with the Oberliga promotion team of 1962. At the end of his 20s he decided to end his playing career for reasons of work. Röhrig was later a board member in the football section and a member of the Bayer 04 elders committee and he worked in the football archive up to his passing in 2010. Röhrig would have been 87 on Tuesday.