In addition to long-term injury Kevin Volland (ankle), Nadiem Amiri is also sidelined after suffering a shoulder injury in Wednesday’s 3-1 win against Union Berlin in the DFB Cup quarter-finals. Lars Bender is also unavailable as Bosz explained, “he's on his way back and has trained again,” but the clash with Frankfurt “is out of the question.” Mitchell Weiser will start at right-back in place of the skipper.
The Black and Reds have an impressive record at the BayArena in 2020: six wins in six games. And now Eintracht come to Leverkusen. Bosz on the winning home form: “During the winter break, we looked at areas where we can improve. We identified stability and home games – both have worked. That was important.“
Nevertheless, according to Bosz, the Werkself face an opponent tomorrow who “can motivate themselves for individual games and produce great performances; we’ve seen that, above all, in the cup competitions. They are very straight-up and direct.”
In recent games, substitutes have often proved to be match winners. “We often come out on top late on,” said the Dutch coach before adding: “I always say to my players, we win games with 20 rather than eleven players.”
Bosz finished off by looking forward to a sell-out crowd at the BayArena. The 56-year-old: “Footballers are nothing without the fans. It absolutely helps when the stadium is sold-out and the fans are right behind the team. It can give you that extra something that makes the difference.”
Match information:
Attendance: Bayer 04 announce a sold-out BayArena
Broadcaster: Sky (TV) and Werkself Radio (bayer04.de)
Referee: Dr. Felix Brych (Munich)
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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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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