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.
A special afternoon at the Bayer 04 Football Academy autumn camp: At the Liga 20 indoor football centre, in the shadow of the BayArena, two Werkself women’s team players led a training session. Loreen Bender and Selina Ostermeier not only offered the young players advice and support, but also got stuck in themselves.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 5-2 win against 1. FC Nürnberg in the second round of the DFB-Pokal 2026/27...
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Bayer 04 came from 2-0 down to beat Nürnberg 5-2 in the second round of the 2026/27 DFB Pokal on Wednesday night. Edmond Tapsoba’s double either side of half-time sparked the turnaround, before Patrik Schick, Jonas Hofmann and Lucas Vázquez ensured progress to the last 16 for the 2024 cup winners.
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The Werkself have reached at least the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal in each of the last three years. The Black-and-Reds would like to make it to the final four of the competition again this season, but to do that they'll need to overcome 1. FC Nürnberg in round two, who travel to the BayArena with momentum following a successful league campaign so far. However, Bayer have a 100 percent record at home in all competitions this season - and have also won six of their last seven home matches in the Pokal. The Matchday News.
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