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.
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.
Bayer 04 welcome St. Pauli to the BayArena in the Bundesliga on Saturday, with the club using the game to call for fans to donate food to the Leverkusen Foodbank.
Show moreBayer 04 Women are looking to finish what’s already the best first half of a Bundesliga season in their history with the huge scalp of the league leaders as Wolfsburg come to the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Friday (kick-off: 6.30pm CET). Victory would even see Roberto Pätzold’s side go top of the table overnight at least.
Show moreWith two days to go until the top-of-the-table clash against VfL Wolfsburg in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga, bayer04.de looks back over Bayer 04 Women's international exploits. Eleven players were in action with their countries in recent days – with mixed success. Seven of them represented either the Germany U23s or U20s, while one player scored three goals in total.
Show moreThe holders against the record winners: this high-profile clash lived up to expectations. In the DFB Pokal round of 16, Bayer 04 and FC Bayern Munich delivered a hard-fought contest. In the end it was the Werkself who progressed to the quarter-finals thanks to ruthless efficiency in attack and composure in defence. Head coach Xabi Alonso remains unbeaten against FC Bayern as Leverkusen coach after five meetings – something never achieved by a Bundesliga coach before. The Werkself Review.
Show moreBayer 04 claimed a 1-0 win away at Bayern Munich to reach the quarter-finals of the DFB Pokal. Nathan Tella headed in the only goal of the evening in the 68th minute for the reigning double winners in a heated affair, where Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was shown an early red card.
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