
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.

The penultimate Bundesliga matchday of the calendar year marks the end of an eventful first half of the season for the Bayer 04 Women. After seven wins, one draw and four defeats from the first twelve games of the season, coach Roberto Pätzold's team can go above Werder Bremen in the table with a win on Friday, 12 December (kick-off: 18:30 CET).
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The third showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26 kicks off for the Leverkusen eSports team this Thursday, 11 December (live on the B04eSports Twitch channel from 19:00 CET). In the online preliminary round, the Black and Red will once again take on six previously drawn opponents for a place in the Top 16 and the associated entry into the offline knockout round, which will take place at this third showdown on 19 December in Cologne. Showdown One winners Bayer 04 will face FC St. Pauli, who won the second showdown last month, among others. The lowdown on first three opponents in this online preliminary round.
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The exact dates for the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal have been finalised. Accordingly, Bayer 04's home tie against Bundesliga rivals FC St. Pauli will be played on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, with the kick-off at 20:45 CET. This was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) today (Thursday).
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After a strong first half, the Werkself conceded twice against Newcastle United in the UEFA Champions League but fought back and " deservedly earned the draw at the end", as captain Robert Andrich aptly put it. Despite opportunities for further Bayer 04 goals, the positive feeling about the irrepressible commitment the final minutes predominated. The Werkself review.
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Alejandro Grimaldo, of course! With his late equaliser (88') in the Champions League clash against Newcastle United, the Spaniard rescued a point for the Werkself, who took the lead through an own goal by Newcastle's Bruno Guimaraes (13') but went with two goals for the visitors scored by Anthony Gordon (51') and Lewis Miley (74'). It was the third draw for Bayer 04 in the current 2025/26 campaign on matchday 6 in the UCL league phase.
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