For most of the Werkself squad, the coaching staff arranged a recovery session at the gym at the BayArena following yesterday's 7-0 win in the friendly against SV Roßbach/Verscheid. The goalkeeping trio of Ramazan Özcan, Thorsten Kirschbaum and Tomasz Kucz did complete part of the morning session on the pitch – as did Benny Henrichs who did a number of intense sprint dills under the eyes of the head coach and guidance of fitness coach Schahriar Bigdeli. Charles Aránguiz and Paulinho joined in 40 minutes later to work one-to-one with fitness coach Daniel Jouvin. The Brazilian new signing then completed dribbling and shooting drills with assistant coaches Nico Schneck and Xaverv Zembrod.
A visit from a Werkself pro at the Bayer 04 Soccer School holiday camps is a long-established tradition. On Thursday afternoon, the young participants in the '19NULLVIER' lounge at the BayArena had the opportunity to interrogate new signing Mitchell Weiser with a host of questions the children were keen to pose. And the kids discovered the type of car the surprise guest drives, which of the players in Heiko Herrlich's squad he gets on best with, what his favourite food is and whether he spends spare time on the PlayStation game Fortnite. The son of the Bayer 04 youth coach Patrick Weiser was busy answering questions for a good 15 minutes. And there was more to do after that: Following the group photo at the end of the Q. and A., the defender born in Troisdorf was happy to sign autographs and satisfy selfie requests from the 100 kids present.
New signing Paulinho was busy following his arrival from Brazil on Tuesday with being introduced to his new team-mates and the DFL Media Day. The 18-year-old also attracted great interest on Thursday morning with his first appearance on the training ground. And that continued in the afternoon. The young attacking talent faced the press at the BayArena media centre. The new Werkself number seven said he had a number or resolutions. "My first target is to settle in quickly and acclimatise. And then I'd like to win titles," he revealed in a 30-minute session with the media.
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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