The season so far has been a bit of a merry-go-round for the Werkself – with six wins, three draws and seven defeats from the previous 16 league games, it has neither been really up or down so far. And that is fairly reflected in the tenth position in the table. At least there has been an upward trend in recent weeks: The Werkself have picked up ten points from the last five games – only Bayern, Wolfsburg (13 each) and Borussia Dortmund (12) have been more successful. If all goes to plan then the Werkself can dislodge Hertha with their three-point advantage from eighth place. Providing Werder Bremen don't win in Leipzig and Hertha are beaten by a margin of at least three goals. And a great goal fest to round off the year is as tempting as a free Glühwein on the Christmas Market.
The Werkself have something to make amends for: Even though the Werkself have won seven of the last ten meetings with the Berlin club, last season saw Hertha win 2-0 at Leverkusen on Carnival Saturday, which certainly did not make the festivities any more enjoyable. And there is a score to settle for the fifth home defeat against Hertha. Given this return from the 22 away games in the Rhineland, it is hard to believe Hertha look forward to travelling to Leverkusen. But it appears they do somehow. In the last 15 matches at the BayArena, the team from the capital have always scored at least one goal against the Werkself (with a total of 23) – Hertha have not had a run of goals like that at any other ground in the Bundesliga. Talking about runs: There has always been a winner in this fixture recently with the last draw coming in April 2012.
Ignoring the fact the Werkself suffered a defeat in the previous last game before a winter break five years ago, visitors to the BayArena have not had much joy recently. Only Ludogorets were able to take a point in a dead rubber Europa League group match at the end of November. Otherwise the perfect (across all competitions) record: Three wins without conceding against Zürich, Stuttgart and Augsburg. And it fits in really well that the Berlin team have only won one of their seven games on the road: Hertha only kept clean sheets at Hannover (2-0) and Mainz (0-0) – otherwise the team coached by Pal Dardai have always conceded at least one goal. They even let in four goals at the Rhineland neighbours in Düsseldorf. Let's go one better.
On Wednesday, Lucas Alario played a big part in picking up three important points against Schalke with his goal to make it 2-0. It was the second goal of the season for the Argentinian (13 appearances) following his winner in the 1-0 victory over Augsburg at the beginning of December that put marked his return to goalscoring trail. And there is a continuing interesting run: The Werkself have not lost a Bundesliga game when Alario has scored – eight of the nine matches ended in wins. It's a big Christmas wish for that run to carry on. Alario has found the back of the net eight times in the Bundesliga in 2018 making him the club's second highest goalscorer behind Kevin Volland (10). Another 90 minutes and the rankings are closed. Time to get scoring…
Last results: 1-2 (A), 0-2 (H)
Referee: Tobias Stieler (Hamburg)
Weather forecast: 10 degrees, light rain
Expected attendance: 27,000
TV brodcaster: Sky
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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To all Bayer 04 fans: The Fanwelt will be closed all day next Monday 30 June. This is due to preparations for the change of kit supplier from Castore to New Balance on Tuesday 1 July.
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The Norway U23 international Julie Jorde has completed the move from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Brøndby IF. The twelve-time champions of Denmark have signed the midfielder on permanent terms after her loan move from the Bundesliga to Denmark in the winter.
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It is almost two years since Bayer 04 new signing Abdoulaye Faye first stepped foot into the BayArena as a player for the Swedish club BK Häcken in the opening match in the 2023/24 Europa League campaign. A day before his nineteenth birthday, the central defender did not play in the 4-0 win for the Werkself but it was "an incredible night" for him on 21 September 2023 as he explained in his first interview on bayer04.de. "I watched the players and saw the fans. I liked it." It was also the first European night early on in his career. He only joined the then champions of Sweden in the cold north of Europe from his home in Senegal a few weeks before that special moment. Bayer04.de profiles our new defender.
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Welcome, Abdoulaye Faye. The 20-year-old Senegalese central defender joins Leverkusen from top-flight Swedish club BK Häcken. In his first interview he talks about his move to Bayer 04 and his targets with the Werkself.
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