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
Werkself TV shows highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
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The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
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Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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