
Heiko Herrlich is holding seven training sessions this week ahead of the home game against SC Freiburg – and the Wednesday morning workout saw the new face of Panagiotis Retsos on the training ground. The 19-year-old completed his first training sessions at Leverkusen one-to-one as he picked up a knee injury during the international break in Greece's 0-0 draw with Estonia. That match was his first full international appearance.
While Dominik Kohr and Charles Aránguiz, who both picked up knocks in the game against Mainz, trained individually at the start of the week, Julian Baumgartlinger returned to full training on Monday afternoon after recovering from flu. And Jonathan Tah, who was struggling with a muscular problem, completed his first individual session on Tuesday morning. He had to drop out of the Wednesday session after the warm-up routine due to a back problem but Heiko Herrlich is confident the central defender will rejoin his team-mates on the training ground by the end of the week .
There is good news on Tin Jedvaj who started light training following recovery from his fractured shin. However, as he missed all the pre-season , it will be a while before he is back to full training.
No update on Alario
While the squad moved to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium after the warm-up to work on team tactics in an eleven versus eleven format, Lucas Alario was working on final training. Bayer 04 are still waiting for the Argentinean to get permission to play.

This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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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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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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