The Prague trip ended for Peter Bosz in the early hours of Friday morning around 03.30 CET when he arrived back home in his own four walls. After a short night, the Dutchman was at the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon ahead of the Freiburg game. “We are dealing with the double-fixture weeks well, the lads are fit and fresh. Even though the game against (Slavia) Prague was tiring, we’ll have a fresh team on the pitch on Sunday,” declared Bosz.
Julian Baumgartlinger and Co. will come together for the obligatory regeneration session at Bismarckstraße in the afternoon. It remains to be seen which players will be available to Bosz at Freiburg. He will know more after the Friday training session plus feedback from the physiotherapists.
Only the return of Exequiel Palacios after illness is more or less guaranteed. With Lars Bender (neck problem) “we’ll to wait and see what happens at today’s session,” said the 56-year-old who explained in respect of the injured Charles Aránguiz and Patrik Schick: “I’m not assuming they are an option.”
Bosz can afford to make changes in defence – without a great loss of quality as he emphasised after the 1-0 defeat in Prague. The back four was made up of Wendell, Aleksandar Dragovic, Jonathan Tah and Tin Jedvaj, all players who have not started recently. “All four are training very well and they did a good job yesterday,” said Bosz.
Whoever the head coach includes in the starting line-up: “We’ll approach the match at Freiburg as we always do: We want to win. And we have to show that.”
Match information:
Broadcaster: Sky and Werks11 Radio
Referee: The match officials will be announced on the day of the game
Attendance: The match will be played behind closed doors due to the high infection rates in and around Freiburg
Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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A special surprise: during the preview for the 'Fierté Burkinabè' documentary about Edmond Tapsoba, Bayer 04 directors Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes announced Tapsoba's contract extension until 2031 together with the centre-back. He then spoke to Werkself-TV about his time in Leverkusen so far and future ambitions...
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Bayer 04 Women have strengthened for the coming season with the signing of Lobke Loone. The 23-year-old Dutch striker joins from Utrecht on a contract until 30 June 2028.
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