After three games last week, several players worked on their own. Charles Aránguiz left the pitch after the warm-up and some passing drills accompanied by fitness coach Daniel 'Giga' Jouvin. And the Bender twins also completed an individual session. Karim Bellarabi was absent in addition to the injured Leon Bailey (torn muscle). The 29-year-old reported sick but is likely to return to training with his team-mates on Thursday.
Preparations for the the game against FC Augsburg are in full swing. "Of course, there could be changes for Saturday," announced Peter Bosz. But not with regard to the Champions League game in Turin on Tuesday. "We are only focused on Augsburg." Given questions from the media, that's not always easy but the team did stand out in the second half of last season. "It's a quality to be able to just concentrate on the next game."
Bosz does not see it as a burden that matches are being played regularly every three days. "We fought hard to get into the Champions League. That's why we don't want to complain." At the same time, the number of matches gives players a chance to get time on the pitch when they have hardly featured before. The lads have to be "patient", added Bosz who is convinced that "everyone will have played by the end of the season."
Managing that process correctly is all part of the high art of being a coach. "It's also part of it being able to explain to players why they are on the bench. As with Mitch (Mitchell Weiser, ed.), where Bosz explained you can't draw any conclusions from that. "Obviously I can't do that every time."
Tin Jedvaj went out on loan to get more match practice. The Croatian World Cup runner-up joined FC Augsburg before matchday two and has, since then, played the full 90 minutes in every game for FCA. "I'm very happy for Tin", declared Bosz without saying what will happen to Jedvaj at the end of the one-year loan. "First he has to play and get as many games under his belt as possible. Then he'll come back and we'll see where we are."
Bayer 04 TV recorded Lucas Alario for the interview of the week. The Argentinian spoke about his recall to the Argentina squad, his team-mates and best men's player of the year Messi, his comeback with the goal against Union Berlin and, of course, the forthcoming game at Augsburg. The full interview will be on bayer04.de soon.
Bosnia U19 international Kerim Alajbegovic is moving from Bayer 04 Leverkusen's youth set-up to Red Bull Salzburg. The talented attacking midfielder has signed a long-term contract with the Austrian club. At the same time, the works club secured a buy-back option for the 17-year-old, who was one of the mainstays of the Leverkusen U19s.
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