Roberto, you played for us for four years. How do you feel returning to your old old stomping ground with Greuther Fürth?
Hilbert: Very good. I'm really looking forward to meeting up with the lads again as well as with all the other people I worked with. I haven't been here for a long while. Of course, the last two seasons at Bayer 04 weren't that easy for me. I had a few injuries and was often sat in the stands. But I have very positive memories of my time at Leverkusen.
Are you still in contact with some of your old team-mates?
Hilbert: Yes, above all Ramazan Özcan, Julian Baumgartlinger and Kevin Volland.
How do you think the Werkself have done in the first half of the campaign and what is your old team capable of this season?
Hilbert: I've seen quite a lot of games involving my old team-mates. And I have to say what the team produced in the second half up to the winter break was brilliant. The team had to sort themselves out with the new coach in the beginning. But now they are consistently playing really good football. They look really well organised. For example, it was impressive the way they turned the game round at Mönchengladbach and went on to clock up a convincing 5-1 win. If Bayer 04 continue in the same way in the second half of the season and everybody stays fit then that will definitely be enough to qualify for Europe next season.
It's not going so well for you in the second division and you're currently next to bottom in the table. What's going wrong?
Hilbert: We've got a very young team. A lot of players need to gain experience. If you start the season with four defeats then it's obviously going to be difficult. But we have shown what we can do at home. Now we have to pick up points way from home. And we want to do that straight away in the first game of the second half of the season away to Arminia Bielefeld. I'm absolutely convinced we can get out of the drop zone and stay up, and even finish mid-table as so many teams are close together on points.
Your coach Damir Buric also used to be at Leverkusen. What do you think makes him stand out?
Hilbert: He's an absolute expert with loads of experience. The coach is an outstanding bloke who talks to the players a lot. He's brought a good atmosphere to the team and he also keeps involving us older players in his decision making.
You're playing at right back for your new team. Are you happy with your performances so far?
Hilbert: I'd like to answer that with yes and no. I was signed to bring stability and experience. I've done pretty well at times in games. But I did notice the effect of not having a club for three months in the summer as that meant I missed the pre-season and wasn't 100 per cent fit. But I'm back on track now and I'll do all I can in the second half of the season to get even stronger.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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