Julian Baumgartlinger, Aleksandar Dragovic and Tin Jedvaj were back in their black and red training kit yesterday– the trio completed a session in the weights room. Today they were back on the training ground – together with the three Germany players Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz and Jonathan Tah. In cool temperatures, the session lasted 90 minutes with a range of drills at the tail end of the run-in to this week's home game.
Isaac Kiese Thelin and Paulinho are expected to return tomorrow for the final pre-match training session. Both were involved in internationals on Tuesday. At the end of the Nations League group stage, Kiese Thelin’s Sweden knocked Russia off top spot in Group B2 to secure promotion to the A Group - thanks to a 2-0 win in a meeting of the two teams. The Werkself number 11 came off the bench for the final 20 minutes; the second goal for the 'Tre Konor' was scored shortly after he came on. Paulinho played the first half for the Brazil U20s in the second friendly against Colombia in five days (2-2).
The third international missing on Wednesday was Jakub Bednarczyk. The Poland U20 international had to go off half an hour into Monday's game against Ukraine due to a thigh muscle problem. The 19-year-old will undergo a through examination by the medical section in Leverkusen.
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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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 as he worked 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 personalised 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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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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