The 19-year-old is currently playing for the Selecao U23s at the South American qualification tournament for the Olympics in Tokyo. For starters, Brazil beat Peru on Monday thanks to the only goal of the game scored by Paulinho. Early on Thursday (02.30 CET), Uruguay were the opponents in Colombia – and once again Paulinho and Co. were the winners in a 3-1 victory. The Leverkusen player started the game and was substituted on 67 minutes with the scoreline at 2-0.
RB Leipzig's Matheus Cunha scored from the penalty spot on the half-hour mark to make it 2-0. Brazil are top of Group B after the two wins. Next Wednesday, they take on Bolivia in the third group match (kick-off: 02.30 CET).
After yesterday's FFT session in Leverkusen, the Bayer 04 head coach Peter Bosz talked about the different approaches to the game of the last opponents SC Paderborn and the coming opposition Fortuna Düsseldorf (Sunday, 26 January, 18.00 CET). "It was an open game against Paderborn. In contrast, we’re expecting a team on Sunday that sits back and waits to play on the break," said the Dutchman. "But the challenge will be the same: We definitely want to win!"
Referee Daniel Schlager will be in charge of a Bundesliga match involving Bayer 04 for the first time on Sunday. The 30-year-old banker has Dominik Schaal and Arno Blos as his assistants and the fourth official is Michael Bacher.
"This podcast has just one subject: Simply football." That was the trailer from WDR for their "Simply football" podcast. And who could be better as an interviewee than Stefan Kießling? The long-standing Werkself player and now consultant to the Bayer 04 board was the guest for moderator Sven Pistor. The 47-year-old is the voice of the WDR 2 Bundesliga show "Liga Live" and he invited Kies along in conjunction with his ARD colleague Jürgen Bergener. The podcast will be available soon on the WDR website.
The former Werkself player Thomas Brdaric today celebrates his 45th birthday. The former Germany international played under the Bayer Cross from 1999 to 2003 and he was with Bayer 04 for the finals in the Champions League and the DFB Cup. The central striker scored 20 goals the Werkself in 126 games and provided 12 assists. After hanging up his boots, Brdaric moved into coaching and he was the manager of the North-east Regional League side Rot-Weiß Erfurt up until November last year. Bayer 04 wish him a very happy birthday!
Hansjörg Schneider (54) was a year older yesterday. The former second division player at Fortuna Köln (285 games, 15 goals) has been a physio at Bayer 04 since 2009. On the same day, albeit a couple of years later, former Bayer 04 players Jens Hegeler (32), Vladlen Yurchenko (26) and Joel Abu Hanna (22) were born. So a belated happy birthday to one and all!
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month.
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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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