Peter Sylvester Bosz, the full name of the Dutchman, spent New Year’s Eve quietly at home with his wife. The nationwide restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic were not the only reason for that. The first day of the New Year was a normal working day for the head coach – with preparations for the away game in Frankfurt on the agenda.
Bosz was on the top at table in the media centre at the BayArena on Friday afternoon. After passing on his New Year’s greetings to the members of the media joining the press conference remotely, the 56-year-old said: “I have never worked on 31 December or 1 January in my 41 years in professional football. That’s new for anybody who hasn’t worked in England. But it makes it exciting as well. We’re happy it’s starting again now.”
According to Bosz, the Werkself will face a “team who are direct and quick in getting forward.” Adi Hütter’s team have achieved good results against all the teams in the leading group in the Bundesliga so far this season. The team in ninth place have secured draws against Borussia Mönchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund, Union Berlin and RB Leipzig. “It’s not easy playing there,” declared Bosz.
During the press conference, the Dutchman recalled Bayer 04’s last away game in Frankfurt. The Black and Reds lost 3-0 at the Deutsche Bank Park on matchday eight in the last campaign. Bosz said: “We had a bad game there. But the opposition did really well.”
It’s two weeks since the last Bundesliga match for the Werkself with the 2-1 defeat against Bayern Munich. A considerably shorter winter break compared with previous years. But it is one where Bosz believes his players have been able “recover energy for a week” before retuning to the training ground just after Christmas. “The feedback from training was good and they haven’t lost anything in terms of fitness.”
The left-backs Wendell and Daley Sinkgraven were unable to train and will not travel to Frankfurt. The defensive duo are sidelined due to positive coronavirus test results and now they are both in self-isolation. “It’s unlucky to lose two players in the same position. But we have to deal with it,” said Bosz who has discussed the options with his fellow coaches regarding the possible line-up for the first game of the season without the two left-footers: “Either we replace them with another player or we change our formation.”
The long-term absentees Santiago Arias, Charles Aránguiz, Exequiel Palacios and Paulinho do not come into consideration for Bosz and the same applies to Lars Bender and Sven Bender. They are all ruled out of the clash with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Match information:
Broadcasters: Sky and Werks11 Radio
Referee: The match officials will be announced on the day of the game
It took exactly 60 minutes for the Werkself to take the lead through a perfectly finished counter-attack by Patrik Schick in the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off at Olympiacos. Referring to the meeting in the league phase and the initially squandered opportunities, coach Kasper Hjulmand said afterwards: "I thought: 'Oh no, déjà-vu.'" But after the opening goal, it took just 144 seconds for the Czech to spark more wild celebrations among those in black and red in the Greek cauldron, when Schick nodded in Alejandro Grimaldo's corner. Much to the delight of the Bayer 04 fans, his teammates and his coach, who had warm words for the striker in the aftermath. The Werkself Review.
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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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