Bayern come to Leverkusen as league leaders with a comfortable eleven-point lead and the Werkself are unbeaten in twelve games in the Bundesliga (and 14 in all competitions): So everything points to an exciting encounter with neither side lacking in confidence. But there will also be no lack of respect for the opposition. “Bayern have the best attack you can imagine and they are playing with much more flair since the change of coaches. But we don’t want to sit back but instead be brave,” said Jonathan Tah in an interview with Kicker. Bayern’s Franck Ribery sees Bayer 04 as follows: “They’re a good team with good players and it’s always been difficult there – but we are Bayern Munich.”
Bayer 04 are unbeaten in the last nine Bundesliga games at the BayArena with four wins and five draws. The Werkself have not lost any of the last four league games at home against Bayern with one win and three draws. The last two meetings at Leverkusen ended goalless. Rudi Völler is absolutely right when he says: “Bayern don’t have a monopoly of wins at the BayArena as we’ve often demonstrated.” And the sporting director set out the maxim for Friday night: “We want to cause them problems again this time.”
The clash between the Werkself and the record champions has attracted interest worldwide with the match being broadcast live in 190 countries. The huge media interest is accompanied by a large number of VIPs expected at the BayArena tonight: From the DFB come Thomas Schneider and Marcus Sorg, the two assistants to Germany coach Joachim Löw. And Franco Foda, DFB Cup winner with Bayer 04 in 1993 and now the Austria coach, will also be the stands to have a look at his international defenders Julian Baumgartlinger and David Alaba. The two Bayer 04 honorary captains Bernd Schneider and Ulf Kirsten plus former Werkself players Marko Babic, Falko Götz and Patrick Helmes will also be at the game.
If you were to put a team together of players who have appeared for Bayer 04 and Bayern then you could produce an impressive line-up with big-name players: Michael Ballack, Zé Roberto, Toni Kroos, Jörg Butt, Lucio, Jorginho, Paulo Sergio, Emre Can, Alois Reinhardt, Robert Kovac, Niko Kovac, Landon Donovan, Markus Münch, Jürgen Röber, Helmut Winklhofer and current players Arturo Vidal and Tom Starke plus the coaches Jupp Heynckes and Peter Hermann.
Ahead of the kick-off against Bayern Munich it will be time to say farewell to a man who has been at Bayer 04 for almost four decades: At the end of last year, Klaus Zöller, supplies manager at the Werkself, went into well-deserved retirement. The young at heart 65-year-old, who started work as the caretaker at Bismarckstraße in 1980 before going on to be the groundsman and kit man for generations of players in Black and Red, will receive a suitable farewell from CEO Michael Schade and sporting director Rudi Völler fifteen minutes before kick-off.
While the players in action against Bayern will have a recovery session at the Werkstatt in the BayArena on Saturday, the rest of the squad will have the opportunity to get some match practice in a friendly against third division Sportfreunde Lotte. Entrance to the match at 11.00 CET at the Haberland Stadium is free. The game against Lotte, currently fourteenth in the third division, will be broadcast on bayer04.de as well as Facebook – now a familiar service for all Bayer 04 fans. Later in the month there is another friendly on Tuesday 23 January against Regional League side Rot-Weiß Oberhausen.
There will not be a post-match Fan talk at the Schwadbud after the Bayern match due to time constraints as the fans would not be able to head home before midnight. Ahead of the game, Bayer 04 stalwart Gerd Kentschke and UEFA Cup winner Christian Hausmann, who impressed in the 3-0 win at Bayern at the Olympic Stadium in November 1986, will be guests at the Schwadbud.
The second international break of the 2025/26 season will begin after the Bundesliga match against Union Berlin (Saturday, 4 October, 15:30 CEST). The latest information on call-ups.
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Alejo Sarco and Argentina won their second group match at the U20 World Cup in Chile on Wednesday night. They beat Australia 4-1 with Sarco setting the tone early with a goal in the third minute. As in the first group game against Cuba, where Sarco scored twice, the 19-year-old was also named "Player of the Match" against Australia.
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Second game, second draw in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26: The Werkself were held to a 1-1 draw by Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven on matchday two in the league phase. After an early but brief setback in the form of an offside goal by Ivan Perisic for the visitors (5'), the Werkself took control and created numerous good chances in the first half. Leverkusen took a deserved lead after the break in the 65th minute through Christian Kofane. However, PSV's Ismael Saibari replied a few minutes later to level at 1-1 (72').
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In the second match in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26, the Werkself host PSV Eindhoven this Wednesday evening, 1 October (kick-off: 21:00 CEST/live on DAZN and on Werkself Radio). PSV have injury problems but are in confident mood after winning two consecutive league titles. PSV coach Peter Bosz and keeper Matej Kovar are two familiar faces who have fond memories of their Bayer 04 days. The latest information on the UCL match at the BayArena can be found in out matchday news.
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Bayer 04 beat PSV Eindhoven 3-2 on matchday two to clock up the next three points in the UCL Youth League 2025/26. In front of just under 500 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, the visitors from the Netherlands led at half-time, but the Werkself turned the game round in the second 45. That makes it two wins on the bounce after the victory in Copenhagen.
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