Sunshine returned to Leverkusen on Wednesday afternoon just in time for the final Werkself training session ahead of the clash with Nice. 21 outfield players plus three goalkeepers were welcomed by head coach Peter Bosz at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Florian Wirtz, who was recently sidelined with a stomach muscle injury, was also on the training ground along with Tin Jedvaj who has recovered from illness. Also with the group: the trio of youth players Emrehan Gedikli, Samed Onur and Cem Türkmen plus Mitchell Weiser, who is not named in the Europa League squad. The skipper Charles Aránguiz was sidelined.
The Werkself’s next opponents from the south of France landed at Cologne/Bonn airport on Wednesday morning. A few hours later, head coach Patrick Vieira and key defender Dante attended the press conference at the media centre at the BayArena. The latter, who spent seven years playing in Germany (including for Bayern Munich), knows the qualities of the Werkself: “I still regularly watch the Bundesliga. Bayer 04 have a young and quick team. We know it will be a tough game for us,” said the 37-year-old.
His coach Vieira, who has brought Nice back onto the European stage after three years, wants to play a high press against the Black and Reds. The former player: “We have to win the ball high up the pitch and be fully focused on the game. Because we know the strengths of Leverkusen.” It remains to be seen whether striker Kasper Dolberg, who Bosz knows from his time at Ajax, will be able to play. “He feels good overall. But we will wait to make a decision about the line-up on the day of the game,” Vieira added.
The opening fixture in the Europa League for the Werkself will be refereed by the Croatian match official Fran Jovic. The first time the 36-year-old officiated the Black and Reds was almost exactly six years ago: On 22 October 2014, Jovic was in charge of a game involving the Bayer 04 U19s in the UEFA Youth League. The Werkself youth team lost 4-1 to Zenit St Petersburg at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The Leverkusen U19s beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 at the same venue in October 2016 – also with the Croat in charge.
In this year’s Europa League qualifiers, Jovic refereed the game between AC Milan and FK Bodö/Glimton 24 September. The former Werkself player Hakan Calhanoglu scored twice in the 3-2 victory for AC Milan against the Norwegian side.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will only be used in the knockout stages of the Europa League.
At the start of the week, Bayer 04 sporting director Simon Rolfes spoke about the targets in the European competition on RTL Nitro. “Even though we have respect for our opponents, it is clearly our minimum target to reach the knockout stages,” said the 38-year-old. The other opponents in the Werkself group are Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) and Hapoel Beer Sheva from Israel.
Following the successful start for the Bayer 04 women in the new season in the FLYERALARM Women’s Bundesliga, the much changed squad – the management have signed ten new players – gathered for the official team photograph a few days ago. With eleven points secured to date, the players of the fifth-placed team had good reason to smile:
Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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They're well on their way to becoming German champions for the 35th time and once again proved their incredible class in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. This Saturday, 14 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayern Munich will be the visitors to the BayArena. It'll be a meeting of the two Bundesliga teams with the most dominant styles of play. A look at our opponents shows the visitors from the Bavarian capital have many strengths - but are also vulnerable.
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Sofie Zdebel is up for the Goal of the Month award for February on ARD-Sportschau. Fans have until 21 March (19:00 CET) to vote for the Germany U23 international's volley to make it 2-0 in the Bayer 04 Women's derby against FC Köln (2-1).
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