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.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen has gained a new partner in digital gaming platform Crown Coins, which joins the Bundesliga runners-up's Sponsors Club with immediate effect. The one-and-a-half-year contract runs until 30 June 2027.
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The Werkself host VfB Stuttgart this evening (10 January, 18:30 CET), a side whose recent Bundesliga form has been indifferent but who have regularly produced top performances in the DFB Pokal and UEFA Europa League, and who have a key player back in the squad in striker Ermedin Demirovic. Off the pitch, the BayArena faithful will be able to see the remaining stoppage time live on the video screens. The Matchday News.
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The Werkself face a tough challenge in the first game of 2026 when VfB Stuttgart visit the BayArena on Saturday, 10 January (kick-off: 18:30 CET). Ahead of the top-of-the-table clash, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about his impressions of training this week, anticipation of the start of the new calendar year and the personnel situation.
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