
Charles Aránguiz would have loved to hold the trophy for the South American tournament aloft for a third time in succession after 2016 and 2017 – now the 30-year-old Chilean is just left with the third and fourth place play-off in this year’s Copa. In front of around 33,000 spectators in Porto Alegre, the winners of Group C suffered a surprise defeat against Peru who finished behind Brazil and Argentina in Group A but progressed to the quarter-finals as the best third-placed team. The goals for Peru were scored by Edison Flores (21'), Yoshimar Yotun (38') and the former Bayern Munich player Paolo Guerrero (90+ 1'). In the fourth minute of added time, Chile's Eduardo Vargas missed the chance to score a consolation goal for La Roja when he failed to convert a penalty – the VAR had identified a foul in the penalty area on Aránguiz who played for the full 90 minutes.
The third and fourth place play-off between Chile and Argentina is on Saturday (21.00 CET) in a repeat of the final of 2017 – Brazil and underdogs Peru face each other in the final on Sunday (22.00 CET).
While Aránguiz still has one game to play before his well-earned summer break, Leon Bailey can head off on holiday now. Winning his fourth cap, the 21-year-old was unable to prevent the Reggae Boyz losing 3-1 to the Gold Cup holders the USA in the semi-finals. The Werkself number seven, who produced a lively performance on the left wing at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville for over 90 minutes, did provide the cross for Shamar Nicholson to make it 2-1 on 69 minutes. That was too little for the Jamaicans, who were prone to making mistakes, against a confident USA side with their goals scored by Weston McKennie (9') and the former Dortmund player Christian Pulisic (52', 87'). In Sunday’s final, USA play Mexico including the former Bayer 04 pro Chicharito. There is no third and fourth place play-off in the Gold Cup.
The third Bayer 04 player still still away on international duty is Marc Lamti with the Tunisia U19 side at the Africa Cup. Tunisia went through to the last 16 on Tuesday night with a third draw in their third group game against Mauritania putting them second in Group E. As in the last two games, Lamti was on the bench for 90 minutes – but he can be hopeful of making appearance in the Round of 16 match against Ghana on Monday (8 June, 21.00 CET).


Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
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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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RB Leipzig travel to Leverkusen on the back of a winning run: Ole Werner's team have clocked up five wins on the bounce. Currently third in the Bundesliga, qualification for the UEFA Champions League is within reach. This Saturday, 2 May (kick-off: 18:30 CEST), RBL want to take the next step towards next season’s UCL campaign at the BayArena. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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