“The first match is incredibly important. Will we get it right as we intend? If that happens it will give us a certain sense of security for the match. And if we pick up three points then we’ll have exactly what we want to progress in a tournament like this,” declared coach Horst Hrubesch.
Germany, with Lars Bender sharing a room with his twin brother Sven at the team hotel, have high hopes. “The first target is to win the group so we don’t have to move for the quarter-finals. And we want to be in the Olympic village for the semi-finals to share that experience. We’ve heard about that so often and find it absolutely fascinating. As a footballer you can usually only be there once in your life,” said Hrubesch, whose players follow up the opener against Mexico with games against South Korea (Sunday, 21.00 CET) and Fiji (Wednesday, 21.00 CET).
Renato Augusto and Son in Brazil too
Like Julian Brandt, Lars Bender is also really keen to face the challenge of the Olympic Games. “It’s great to be part of the Olympics but I don’t want to just look at photos in the future and say I was there. I would rather hold something in my hands. Every athlete wants to win to have something forever that you can enjoy remembering,” said Lars who was a Under-19 European Champion along with his brother in 2008. Renato Augusto (Brazil) plus Heung-Min Son and Seung-Woo Ryu (both South Korea) are former Bayer 04 players at the Olympic tournament.
Krahn plays in first win
While Bender, Brandt and the men’s team can hardly wait for their Olympic opener, Annike Krahn and the Germany women’s team have already played their first group match in Brazil. The team coached by Silvia Neid clocked up a 6-1 win against Zimbabwe in Sao Paulo. The Werkself central defender, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, played the full 90 minutes. The other group opponents for Germany are Australia (Saturday 23.00 CET) and Canada (Tuesday, 21.00 CET).
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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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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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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