Beaming faces everywhere: That sums up the atmosphere under the Bayer Cross after the 4-0 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach. No surprise for Gerardo Seoane as "results always influence the mood although the atmosphere in training was always good last week." The Swiss boss is now hoping the taste of success will contribute to his team coming together even more. "We want to continue growing together."
Two players who currently are only able to help with this process in the dressing room are Karim Bellarabi and Lucas Alario. Following their muscle injuries, they completed individual sessions on the training ground on Tuesday but both are close to making a return to full training according to Seoane. "Lucas will probably join full training this week," said the head coach. But he is not an option for the game on Saturday, 28 August (kick-off: 15.30 CET). Seoane added: "It will probably take a week longer with Karim. Both should be available again after the international break."
Four players were missing from training on Tuesday. Jonathan Tah and Joel Pohjanpalo complained of slight cold symptoms and were absent from the training ground as were Julian Baumgartlinger and Moussa Diaby. The Frenchman took a kick on the knee and is set to rejoin full training tomorrow; Julian Baumgartlinger has an inflamed knee. The next few days will show when the Austria captain will be able to train again.
After the impressive performances in Leipzig and at Union Berlin, Kerem Demirbay also shone in the first home game of the season against Borussia Mönchengladbach. "Of course, it's to our benefit that he is so full of running as our number 10," was the assessment of Gerardo Seoane who not only praises Demirbay for his attacking endeavour: "It's always good if you have a player who also works well in defence and thereby provides additional support to the team." Our number 10 impressed in his game going forward above all with the enormous quality of his passes and a special awareness of space. The whole package is also due to Demirbay's good pre-season. "He has invested a lot and is therefore in very good condition," said Seoane.
In that respect, Florian Wirtz is not yet as well advanced after playing in the U21 European Championships in the summer and then only able to do reduced training due to problems with his lower back. "We'll have to see how he deals with the increased workload. The most important thing is he doesn't have any other problems," stressed the Werkself head coach. "I prefer it if a player makes a short appearance but can play with high intensity in his minutes on the pitch and show commitment. He is currently not yet ready for 90 minutes."
Empty stands due to the coronavirus pandemic have a lead to total losses of two billion euros for clubs in the top five leagues in Europe. Those findings come from a report from the accountants KPMG. In addition to the Bundesliga, the analysis also considered the Premier League (England), Serie A (Italy), Ligue 1 (France) and La Liga (Spain). In the 2019/20 season, with crowds at games up to March, the losses were 500 million euros. The losses in the Bundesliga at that time were estimated at 157 million euros more than the other four leagues.
So far this season, only the Premier League and Ligue 1 games are being played in front of full stands. The crowd limit in Spain is currently 40 percent and in Italy it is 50 percent. In Germany there is a maximum limit of 25,000 fans. But that could soon change. Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn has given Bundesliga clubs hope for fuller stadiums in relation to the attendance question. "I think you can do one thing: With the number of spectators, you can treat the vaccinated and recovered differently from the tested. Without doubt, significantly more vaccinated and recovered people can be in a stadium – albeit in the open air – as spectators than is currently possible," said Spahn to the Bild Zeitung.
Pure emotion at the first home game of the season with over 15,000 spectators. Bayer 04 TV brings highlights of the action-packed Bundesliga match between the Werkself and Borussia Mönchengladbach. From this season, highlights of games will be available on bayer04.de from the Tuesday after the fixture and all match reports from this season are available in the archive.
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