As it stands, Heiko Herrlich is likely to be without six of his players for the opening game of the season in the DFB Cup Round One tie away to CfR Pforzheim on Saturday (18 August, 15.30 CET). In addition to long-term absentees Lukas Hradecky (rehab training), Joel Pohjanpalo (ankle), Panos Retsos (thigh) and Charles Aránguiz (Achilles), Karim Bellarabi and Leon Bailey our definitely unavailable for the first competitive match of the new season away to the Baden-Württemberg Oberliga side as Herrlich announced after today’s training session.
Bellarabi (after twisting his knee at the training camp in Austria), who put in extra shifts in working hard to make his comeback, including completing the full session this afternoon, is “definitely not in with a chance for Saturday,” said Herrlich with one eye on the Bundesliga opener in Mönchengladbach (25 August) wishing to take no risks from a medical perspective. The chances are equally slim for Leon Bailey who only returned to full training yesterday after suffering a shoulder injury in the friendly against Basaksehir. However, the 21-year-old Jamaican was unable to train with the squad today due to “slight cold symptoms” – according to Herrlich that means Bailey faces more relaxed training regime over the next few days.
At today’s open training session, Bayer 04 fans waited in vain to see Lucas Alario and Paulinho plus Lars and Sven Bender. While the two South Americans were rested from today’s training sessions following slight knocks yesterday, the Bender twins were put through a recovery session by the coaching staff – all four completed individual routines in the gym at the BayArena.
Their outfield team-mates faced a 70-minute session in mild temperatures in Leverkusen again with recovery the foremost option. Herrlich and Co. organised a partnered move with different finishing rules from crosses. Here – under the eyes of Patrick Helmes (pictured above second right ), who is at Bayer 04 as part of his training to be a coach – the Austro- Croatian duo of Aleksandar Dragovic and Tin Jedvaj proved to be the most accurate finishers.
Tomorrow’s Thursday morning session (10.30 CET) is the final open training ahead of the game against Pforzheim with the Werkself making final preparations behind closed doors on Friday.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 4-0 win at Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round of the DFB-Pokal 2026/27...
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Bayer 04 have comfortably reached the DFB Pokal second round thanks to a 4–0 victory away to Liga 3 side SV Wehen Wiesbaden. Patrik Schick put the Werkself ahead in the first 45 in the first competitive match under head coach Carles Martínez with debuts for new signings Miguel Gutiérrez, Afonso Moreira and Facundo Medina. After the break, Lucas Vázquez (47'), Nathan Tella (69') and Christian Kofane (79') also found the back of the net.
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Today brings the first match of the season for the Werkself. Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign today, Saturday 22 August, at 13:00 CEST with a first-round DFB Pokal tie away to third-tier side SV Wehen Wiesbaden. The 3,700 travelling fans can not only look forward to what will hopefully be a successful start to the season, but also now organise their journeys to Black and Reds games even more easily via the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Meanwhile, following two defeats at the start of the league season, SV Wehen are hoping to spring a surprise in the DFB Pokal tie. Today’s matchday news.
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Carolin Simon is the new captain of the Bayer 04 women’s team. The full-back, who joined from Bayern Munich in the summer, will take over the captain’s armband for the 2026/27 season. Simon returned to Leverkusen in the summer after ten years away. The 33-year-old succeeds goalkeeper Friederike Repohl, who retired at the end of last season.
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