News in brief: Vote for Adli as Bundesliga Rookie of the Month

A great honour for Amine Adli: The 21-year-old has been nominated for the vote for Bundesliga Rookie of the Month alongside Jesper Lindström (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Omar Marmoush (VfB Stuttgart).

Black and Red fans can vote now for the Werkself number 31 as #BLRookie for the month of May up to Thursday 14 April at 23.59 CEST. HERE is the link to the vote. The final result is composed of the following elements: 40% of the votes are from the fans with 30% each to the 18 team captains as well as a group of pundits.

Amine Adli joined the Werkself in the summer of 2021 from French second division club FC Toulouse and this season he has scored four goals and provided four assists in 34 games for Bayer 04. The Frenchman is currently sidelined with a torn ligament in the right thigh suffered in a qualifier for the France U21 team. The Leverkusen striker will undergo an operation tomorrow (Tuesday 5 April) in Lyon under the specialist Dr Bertrand Sonnery-Cottet.

Andrich and Diaby in team of the matchday

The performances of the two Werkself players Robert Andrich and Moussa Diaby in the 2-1 home win against Hertha Berlin have also received recognition.

Midfield dynamo Andrich has been named in two Teams of the Matchday: This is the third time this season has been named in the Kicker line-up and the sports journal gave him a high mark of two. The Werkself number eight was also in the team of the day on the Sportschau. The ARD programme describe the performance of the Leverkusen player as follows: "For a hard-earned win you need good workers! (…) The candidate for the national team cleared up whatever came to his feet in the middle of the park and he was always focused and productive when it came to setting up moves."

Moussa Diaby was included in the DFL ‘Team of the week’. The France international set up six of 14 Leverkusen shots including the two goals at the weekend. The 22-year-old is currently the fourth best provider in the Bundesliga with nine assists after 28 games (behind Thomas Müller, Florian Wirtz and Christopher Nkunku).

Alario: a goal every three games

This record it is notable. Lucas Alario is currently in his fifth season in a Werkself shirt. The home game against Hertha Berlin (2-1) was match number 120 in the Bundesliga for him and the opener was his 40th Bundesliga goal – making a top return of one goal every three games. In the all-time Leverkusen Bundesliga goalscorers lists, the 29-year-old Argentina is currently in twelfth position and his next goal would put Alario level with sporting director Simon Rolfes.

World cup groups

Friday's draw for the groups in the 2022 World Cup finals has given Germany a classic encounter: The team under coach Hansi Flick, who was recently included Werkself defender Jonathan Tah in his squad, will play Spain in Group E. The other opponents are Japan, and Costa Rica or New Zealand who face each other in a play-off match in the middle of June to progress to the finals.

There could be a face-to-face encounter between two or more Bayer 04 players in Group A: Ecuador with Piero Hincapie play the Netherlands. Jeremie Frimpong was recently called up to the Oranje squad but had to drop out due to injury. Left-back Mitchel Bakker has previously played for the Netherlands U21 team. The other teams in Group A are Senegal and hosts Qatar.

Iran, with winter signing Sardar Azmoun, have been drawn in Group D and that puts them up against England, USA and Wales, plus Scotland or Ukraine. Argentina (Exequiel Palacios, Lucas Alario) are in Group C along with Mexico, Poland and Saudi Arabia while France (Moussa Diaby) face Denmark, Tunisia and the UAE, plus Australia or Peru. The World Cup finals run from 21 November to 18 December 2022.

happy birthday, Emerson

Emerson Ferreira de Rosa joined Bayer 04 from Gremio Porto Alegre in 1997. ‘Emma’ thrilled Black and Red fans with his style of play for three seasons. The former midfielder scored 11 goals in a total of 82 Bundesliga matches for the Werkself. The Brazilian today celebrates his 46th birthday. Many happy returns from Bayer 04.

Rest in peace, Dettmar Cramer

Bayer 04 today also remember Dettmar Cramer. Cramer took the helm at the Werkself in the summer of 1982 and in 1983/84 he led the Black and Reds to a first top-ten finish (seventh place) in the Bundesliga. The Dortmund-born coach was in the Bayer 04 dugout for 109 games over three seasons. Cramer passed away on 17 September 2015 at the age of 90. He would have celebrated his 97th birthday today.