What an honour: The Werkself number one Lukas Hradecky is one of seven keepers nominated for the FIFA 21 ‘TOTY’. The 31-year-old is thereby already one of the best 70 players in the world.
Hradecky played the full 90 minutes in all the games in 2020 with the exception of the Europa League home game against Slavia Prague (4-0) just before Christmas. Vote HERE to put Lukas in the team of the year.
“Calm, direct and solid in his challenges” – the members of the media were full of praise for the performance of central defender Jonathan Tah in the 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen. The Rheinische Post awarded the 24-year-old a ’2’ and kicker a ‘2.5’. The Kölnische Rundschau included the Leverkusen player in their team of matchday 15.
Tah, who played the full 90 minutes in all of the last eight Bundesliga matches, played a big part in the Werkself only conceding two shots on goal against the team from the North. Only one team has bettered that this term – Bayer 04: Tah and Co. did not concede a single shot on goal on matchday eight in the 2-1 win at Bielefeld with Arminia scoring with an own goal.
After Bremen comes Frankfurt: Eintracht visit the BayArena on Tuesday night, 12 January (kick-off: 20.45 CET), for the second round tie in the DFB Cup. On Monday, head coach Adi Hütter said he wants to build on the performance in the 2-1 home win against Bayer 04 nine days ago. The Austrian: “We have to play like we did at home, be brave and continue our current form. It’s a one-off game where both teams want to go through.”
Frankfurt’s offensive star Filip Kostic is not available to Hütter due to a red card in last season’s DFB Cup campaign. Read the lowdown on our next opponents HERE.
A trio with a Werkself past are celebrating their birthdays: Jens Nowotny, at Bayer 04 from 1996 to 2006, was 47 on Monday. ‘Jenne’ made a total of 233 Bundesliga appearances for Leverkusen. Daniel Carvajal, also a defender like Nowotny, is now 29 years old. The Spaniard played for the Black and Reds in 2012/13 and he performed so well that his original club Real Madrid took him back to Spain after twelve months on loan. Carvajal has remained at the Madrid club since then.
The third birthday boy played behind the back four: Goalkeeper Dario Kresic, 37 on Monday, joined the Werkself from Mainz 05 in the summer of 2014. The Croat was a reliable back-up for Bernd Leno in the following two years. Kresic played in two games and both ended in victory for the Black and Reds. The Werks11 magazine includes a detailed report on the ‘King wine grower from Vukovar’ in edition two. It is available free of charge online HERE.
Bayer 04 wish all three: Happy birthday!
BIOGENA is the new performance partner for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team. Under a partnership initially set to run for three years, the club and the leading Austrian micronutrient company are pooling their expertise in the areas of health, fitness and top-level performance.
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100 children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy had the chance to gain exclusive insights: As part of the summer camp, the young footballers headed inside the BayArena at midday on Tuesday, 21 July, where they were due to meet Werkself keepers Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch in the press conference room. The two players took plenty of time to answer every question from the inquisitive audience – whether it was about their own careers or their first impressions of the new head coach. Finally, there was even time left to sign autographs for the young fans.
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Alejo Sarco has left Bayer 04 Leverkusen to join Sporting Gijón in Spain’s second division. Bayer 04 have secured a buy-back clause for the 20-year-old Argentine striker, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed 16-year-old midfield prospect Gabriel Minutillo on a long-term contract. The Germany youth international will play for the U19s this season.
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