11.09.2018Bayer 04

Trio return – run-in to Bayern game begins

A number of international players are not yet back in Leverkusen. Nevertheless: Preparations for the Bundesliga cracker against Bayern Munich on Saturday (15.30 CET) were well underway on Tuesday morning. In bright sunshine, Heiko Herrlich and his fellow coaches were able to welcome back three returnees for the second training session of the week: Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz and Jonathan Tah were back in training after their time away on international duty with Germany

While Brandt, who played 90 minutes in the international against Peru on Sunday, only completed the warm-up routine to avoid over-exertion, Havertz and Tah finished the whole session. The same applied to Wendell, who has recently only been doing light training following the injury to his left foot. Lars Bender trained with the ball for 90 minutes on the neighbouring pitch.

Apart from the injured players Julian Baumgartlinger, Panos Retsos and Joel Pohjanpalo (all in rehab), the rest of the Bayer 04 international stars will be back by Thursday. Today, Lukas Hradecky, Aleksandar Dragovic, Tin Jedvaj and Charles Aránguiz are all involved in international fixtures. Isaac Kiese Thelin could be back with the Werkself tomorrow – the 26-year-old on-loan striker was in action last night with Sweden in the Nations League. Sweden – in spite of opening the scoring – ended up losing by the odd goal in five against Turkey due to two late strikes.

Leon Bailey receives VDV awards

Another Werkself pro now has two more trophies: Leon Bailey was presented with the two trophies from the German Professional Footballers Association (VDV) after the Tuesday morning training session. Bundesliga players voted the Jamaican the best Newcomer of the Season following his impressive performances last term. His fellow professionals also voted him into the VDV team of the season. Lars Lindgen, the head of VDV, was joined by Bayer 04 honorary captain Carsten Ramelow on his old stomping ground to present the awards. The 44-year-old, who made a total of 437 appearances for the Werkself between 1996 and 2008, has been vice-president of VDV since 2003.

Leon Bailey receives the VDV awards from Carsten Ramelow (l.) and Lars Kindgen (r.).

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