Lars Bender and Leon Bailey were on the training ground in drizzle. They worked on their own on running plus some ball work. Good news: Daley Sinkgraven, who suffered a thigh injury in the 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig at the start of October, returned to training, also on an individual basis.
Bad news from the north of Europe: Werkself striker Joel Pohjanpalo, away with the Finland team preparing for the Euro qualifier against Liechtenstein on Friday (15 November), suffered a ligament injury in his left ankle in training. "And that just before one of the most important games in my career," said the 25-year-old on his Instagram platform. Pohjanpalo will start rehab in Finland. "I want to give this fantastic team my full support," said the Finn ahead of a possible first qualification for the European Championship finals. The striker is due to return to Leverkusen in the middle of next week.
Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez wore a Werkself shirt for two years before moving on to Premier League club West Ham United and then his current club Seville who he joined in the summer. During the derby game against Real Betis (1-2) there was an attempted break-in at the Hernandez villa. A member of the household staff intervened and raised the alarm. The perpetrators were able to flee. Fortunately nobody was hurt
Werkself pro Paulinho will not easily forget the big day: First, the Brazilian scored his first Bundesliga goal to settle the 2-0 win against VfL Wolfsburg. After the game, the 19-year-old was named Man of the Match. Moreover: The South American is the first the Bayer 04 player born in 2000 to score in Germany's top flight. On Monday the winger flew out to Gran Canaria for Thursday’s game between the Brazil U23 side and the USA U23s.
Following the regeneration session, Kevin Volland was interviewed by the Bayer 04 TV team. In the fan shop at the BayArena, the 27-year-old talked about the victory against Wolfsburg, the international break – and answered a cheeky question from a fellow player put by video as ever in the interview of the week. Which team-mate that was and how Volland answered the question can be seen on Thursday on YouTube and at bayer04.de.
Having progressed to the DFB Pokal Round of 16, the Bayer 04 Women do not have much time before their next Bundesliga fixture. On Friday night (18:30 CEST), coach Roberto Pätzold’s side kick off matchday six at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against Werder Bremen – and they have a clear mission.
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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 working 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 personal 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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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During the international break, Bayer 04 will face third-division newcomers SC Fortuna Köln on Friday 2 October (kick-off: 11:00 CEST). The match will be played on training pitch 1 at the BayArena, as preparations are already underway at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium for the Bayer 04 women’s Bundesliga home match against Werder Bremen, which is due to kick off in the early evening. To ensure the friendly against Fortuna Köln runs smoothly and without disruption, it will be played behind closed doors.
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