The Czech Republic striker Patrick Schick suffered a thigh injury on Saturday during the Werkself’s away game at VfB Stuttgart (1-1). And the French winger Moussa Diaby, who suffered an injury to his left foot in the game against the Swabians, also misses the forthcoming international matches and will instead start his rehab at the ‘Werkstatt’ at the BayArena.
The Dutch left-back Daley Sinkgraven, who also went off injured at Stuttgart complaining of dizziness and vision problems, suffered a slight whiplash in a challenge with an opponent. Sinkgraven is expected to return to full training soon. The duration of Schick’s and Diaby’s absences will probably become clear over the course of this week.
That means 14 Bayer 04 players will now be on international duty but without running the risk of having to go into self-isolation returning from areas with a high incidence of coronavirus. The crucial factor for the players’ immediate reintroduction into the Leverkusen first team squad is a negative coronavirus test that will be conducted on their return from abroad. Based on the ruling agreed between the relevant health authorities and FIFA, Bayer 04 and all other Bundesliga clubs can continue to prepare for league games as things stands.
There's no question: VfB Stuttgart are one of the biggest surprises of this season and have delighted their fans with exciting, successful attacking football. After suffering a rare defeat at Bremen last weekend, third-placed VfB are looking to get back to winning ways in this Saturday's big match against the Werkself (kick-off 18:30 CEST). The visitors will be without their playmaker in midfield, though. A look at our next opponents...
Show moreWhether at school, in grassroots sports or at the football stadium – racism and discrimination of all kinds are still prevalent in our society. For this reason, Bayer 04 has been organising preventative school workshops on the subject of racism for many years. This week, one of these workshops took place at the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium not far from the BayArena as part of the Wiesdorf district matchday - and with a prominent guest: Werkself star Jonathan Tah worked intensively with the pupils on the topic. The German champion and international also spoke about his personal experiences with racism.
Show moreBayer 04 aren’t just the new champions of Germany but are also leading the way in engaging young fans after becoming the first Bundesliga club to release its own Pixi children’s book. Captain Lukas Hradecky and Josip Stanisic presented the 24-page publication entitled ‘Ein neuer Löwe für die Werkself’ (A new lion for the Werkself) at a reading for children in the BayArena's Schwadbud.
Show moreBayer 04 visit Italian club AS Roma in the first leg of the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League semi-finals. The match takes place on Thursday 2 May (kick-off 21:00 CEST) at the Stadio Olimpico. Information on ticket sales.
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