Ahead of the first training session in the morning, the second half of the Werkself squad were happily in front of the cameras for Media Day 2022. As in the day before, today's activities again included photo, give and video productions for the club social media channels. The goalkeeping trio of captain Lukas Hradecky, Andrey Lunev and Niklas Lomb covered five media shoots from eight in the morning.
The whole squad then headed for the training ground. The Seoane team competed in different small group matches. And defender Jonathan Tah was back on the pitch at the BayArena with the ball at his feet for the first time after the summer break as he completed large parts of full training.
There was more good news away from the pitch: Amine Adli completed an individual session with fitness coach Daniel Jouvin as he worked on making his comeback.
Once again, there were lots of Black and Red fans at the training ground to follow the Werkself session from close quarters. Afterwards, the players took time out for young and old alike for photos and autographs – the most popular photo motif of the day: Captain Lukas Hradecky and head coach Gerardo Seoane.
During the lunch break, it was time for Jonathan Tah, Robert Andrich, Odilon Kossounou, Paulinho and Mitchel Bakker to produce their best smiles in front of the cameras. One or two players had fun with their teammates – the behind-the-scenes insights are already on the club's social media channels.
The Werkself had a second session in the afternoon inside the BayArena. The focus was on stability and movement drills.
At the end of the day, the final group consisting of Jeremie Frimpong, Exequiel Palacios, Piero Hincapie and Timothy Fosu-Mensah completed the different photo stops before departing for a well-deserved evening off.
The Werkself will start the last session on the pitches next to the BayArena at 10.30 CET tomorrow Wednesday 13 July. This session is also open to Black and Red supporters. The Leverkusen squad then head off to Austria the day after for a week-long training camp in Zell am See-Kaprun.
Hans-Peter Lehnhoff is 59 today. The midfielder joined the Werkself at the age of 31 in 1994. Up to the end of his playing career in 1999, he made 177 appearances for the Black and Reds scoring 17 goals and providing 30 assists.
After hanging up his boots, the former Werkself player took up a role with the support team with the Werkself and became the first team liaison manager of a professional German side. The Alsdorf-born player has spent 28 of his 59 years under the Bayer Cross, which is almost half of his life – a true stalwart. Bayer 04 wish him many happy returns.
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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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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