The last meeting of the two teams is well remembered by everybody at Bayer 04. In the qualifying rounds for the Champions League in August 2015, the Werkself won 3-0 at the BayArena with goals from Hakan Calhanoglu, Admir Mehmedi and Karim Bellarabi. A 1-0 defeat in the second leg saw Bayer 04 progress to the group stage. An eminently important victory against a strong opponent who finished last season in third place in the Serie A just one point behind rivals AS Roma and ahead of clubs like Fiorentina, Napoli plus Inter and AC Milan – the best league finish since the second title win in the club's history in 2000.
At the turn-of-the-century, Lazio were a top European team with stars like Alessandro Nesta, Pavel Nedved and Juan Sebastián Verón under Sven-Göran Eriksson who went on to be the England manager. In 1999 they were the last team to win the European Cup Winners Cup. In the championship winning season came the first two matches between the 'Biancoceleste' and Bayer 04. The two clubs met in the group stage of the Champions League with the ties producing two 1-1 draws – the only two points dropped in the group stage by Lazio who went through to the quarter-finals.
Lazio in the Europa League
The team from the Italian capital are on the European stage again this season. Last season's fifth-place finish under coach Simone Inzaghi, younger brother of the Italian legend striker Filippo Inzaghi, are in the Europa League in 2017/18. Stars of the team include the sought after striker Keita Baldé, defender Stefan de Vrij and the two Brazilian midfielders Felipe Anderson and Lucas Leiva. The latter joined the club last week after ten years at Liverpool.
Fans of the Bundesliga will also be familiar with Ciro Immobile. The central striker, who played for Borussia Dortmund in 2014/2015, joined Lazio last summer to take over the arduous mantle from Miroslav Klose, who scored 63 goals for the Roman side between 2011 and 2016. Before the record goalscorer for Germany, who became a crowd favourite in the Eternal City, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Karl-Heinz Riedle and Thomas Doll all wore the shirt with the Lazio eagle on the chest.
Season launch with match against Celta Vigo
The Werkself head home directly after the final whistle in Grödig. The next and last friendly in the pre-season is against Spanish top-flight side Celta Vigo at the season launch at the BayArena on 5 August.
An overview of current ticket sales for Bayer 04 home and away matches in the 2026/27 season.
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Three games, three wins: Bayer 04 secured a 2–0 victory at Greek Cup winners OFI Crete with Jonas Hofmann scoring both goals at the Pankritio Stadium, right on the Mediterranean coast (35’, 38’). As a result, the Werkself have temporarily taken over top spot in the table on Matchday 3 of the league phase of the UEFA Europa League.
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'40 Years Across Europe' - and for the first time ever, Bayer 04 are travelling to Greece's biggest island for a European clash. There they'll take on OFI Crete - full name Omilos Filathlon Irakleiou (‘Association of Sports Friends of Heraklion’) - on Matchday 3 of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League league phase. The meeting with the Greek Cup winners kicks off at 18:45 CEST on Thursday 22 October at the Pankritio. We’ll bring you all the latest updates from the trip here…
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Two games – two wins: Bayer 04 have picked up maximum points from their two matches so far in the league phase of the UEFA Europa League. What's more, of their previous 14 UEL matches, Bayer 04 have lost just one. Away to OFI Crete, Carles Martínez’s side are looking to add another successful performance on the European stage to their string of impressive displays. The Greeks, for their part, have been waiting four matches for a win, but Leverkusen should be on their guard: OFI’s most recent victory came against a German side. Today's matchday news.
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Ahead of Bayer 04's Europa League match away to OFI Crete in Greece, defender Jarell Quansah spoke to Werkself-TV...
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