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.
Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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They're well on their way to becoming German champions for the 35th time and once again proved their incredible class in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. This Saturday, 14 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayern Munich will be the visitors to the BayArena. It'll be a meeting of the two Bundesliga teams with the most dominant styles of play. A look at our opponents shows the visitors from the Bavarian capital have many strengths - but are also vulnerable.
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