The Werkself are looking to take the next step in the race for Europe against the Royal Blues. "That was a very, very important win for us – also in terms of qualification for the Europa League. Everything is still really tight," said Werkself striker Kevin Volland in the Mixed Zone after the game. And Lukas Hradecky, who celebrated his 50th Bundesliga win against Frankfurt, calls for similarly courageous performances from the Werkself in the run-in: "We have to play the last two games at the same level – and then hopefully that will be enough to achieve the magical fourth spot." So the target is clear for the next 14 days. In that spirit, the Werkself gathered again on Monday morning at the BayArena – after a team meeting, the starting eleven from the Frankfurt game completed a regeneration session at the Werkstatt while the players on the bench including Paulinho and Mitchell Weiser completed a session on the training ground.
The Werkself have the day off tomorrow before the final open training session of the week on Wednesday (10.30 CET) ahead of the Schalke game at the weekend.
The majority of the media are agreed – Charles Aránguiz is the player of matchday 32. The Werkself number 20 provided the assists for the first two goals (assists number five and six for him in the current campaign) and he scored the goal to make it 4-1 at the end of an impressive solo run (second goal of the season). In addition, the Chilean won 65 per cent of his challenges and had the most possession of all the players on the pitch. Kicker, Sportschau and bundesliga.de recognised this performance with a place in the team of the week. There was a black and red dominance in the top teams. And the performances of Lucas Alario (kicker, Sportschau, bundesliga.de), Jonathan Tah, Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz (kicker, Sportschau) plus Sven Bender and Julian Baumgartlinger (both in kicker) also impressed the media.
Next weekend (10 to 12 May) Bayer 04 celebrate ‘40 years of the Bundesliga under the Bayer cross’ – commemorating the date of promotion to the Bundesliga on 13 May 1979, the Werkself have organised a three-day black and red event. It all kicks off on Friday night (19.04 CET, '19nullvier' Lounge at the BayArena) with the 'Day of Promotion' where many of the heroes of 1979 will mingle with the guests. The next day (1530 CET) brings the Bundesliga home game against Schalke 04 before celebrations continue on Sunday (from 10.00 CET) with a 'Day of Tradition' that includes a match involving the Bundesliga All-Stars at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The biggest Bayer 04 legends from the last four decades will be there to mark this anniversary – Jürgen Gelsdorf, Falko Götz, Bum-Kun Cha, Ulf Kirsten, Christoph Daum, Bernd Schneider, Erik Meijer, Paolo Sergio, Zé Roberto and Emerson have all confirmed. A limited number of tickets are available for the weekend events.
The Werkself conceded a late goal to suffer the third defeat of the season in Monday night's Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga fixture on matchday ten. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team lost 2-1 at SC Freiburg. Vanessa Fudalla (65’) scored the only goal for Bayer 04 who are now fifth in the table on 19 points.
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Bayer 04 midfielder Ibrahim Maza was honoured in Paris in the Best Algerian Young Player category at the Fennec d'Or awards for the Algerian Footballer of the Year, organised for the first time by the football journal La Gazette du Fennec. "It's an honour for me," said the 19-year-old, delighted with the award.
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On the back of two wins within four days, Bayer 04 Women round off an intensive Bundesliga week in the Black Forest. Roberto Pätzold's side have the chance to move back up to third place against SC Freiburg in the final fixture of Matchday 10 on Monday (18:00 CET) and draw level on points with second-placed VfL Wolfsburg.
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The last international break of this calendar year features the final qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. An overview of who's playing where and when from a Leverkusen point of view.
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