“Paderborn always try to play on the front foot. That opened up space for us in attack on Sunday. That’s not normally the case against Düsseldorf. We expect them to be more compact and defensive,” Bosz said at the pre-match press conference on Friday. “We’re prepared for that and that’s we’ve worked on in training today and we’ll train again tomorrow.”
Left-back Wendell, who picked up an injury in training on Wednesday, was unable to train with the team today. If the Brazilian misses tomorrow’s training session, “he won’t be in the squad on Sunday,” said Bosz. Charles Aránguiz (muscle injury) and the suspended winter signing Exequiel Palacios are definitely sidelined. On top of that, Paulinho is still on international duty with the Brazil Olympic team. The recently injured left-back Daley Sinkgraven has returned to full training and is available for the clash with Fortuna.
The Black and Reds are second in the Bundesliga away form rankings but at home the Werkself are only in tenth place. “We’ve dropped too many points at home and Sunday gives us the chance to improve the stats a bit,” said Bosz, who is only willing to accept a win: “We have to win the game and we need the points.”
Central striker Joel Pohjanpalo will not be in the squad for the Düsseldorf game. The Finland striker has joined top second division club Hamburg SV on loan to the end of the season on Friday. “Normally, we want to have two players for each position. With Joel, we have three players for the central striker position. That’s why we were able to let him go,” said head coach Bosz in explaining the move. The Dutchman also commented on other potential transfer activity: “We’ve got a very good squad with very good players. So, any replacement also has to be a very good player.”
Match information:
Broadcasters: Sky (TV) and Werkself Radio (bayer04.de)
Referee: Daniel Schlager (Niederbrühl)
Tickets: Bayer 04 expect an attendance of 26,000. The matchday ticket office opens at 16.00 CET.
This evening was deeply moving: At a really special setting, Bayer 04 exclusively presented the specially produced documentary ‘Fierté Burkinabè’ ("Burkinabe Pride") about Edmond Tapsoba on Tuesday. For the preview at the BayArena, the parents of the Werkself player and other close companions travelled all the way from his African homeland Burkina Faso. The 45-minute film shows Tapsoba's extraordinary career from his beginnings in Ouagadougou to Leverkusen as well as the work of his foundation "Fondation Edmond Tapsoba", with representatives from Burkina Faso also present. Fans can watch the documentary free of charge on Werkself TV and YouTube from Wednesday night at 20:00 CEST.
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Bayer 04 have signed left-back Carolin Simon from champions Bayern Munich for the coming season. The 33-year-old former Germany international, who played for Leverkusen from 2013 to 2016, has signed a contract to 30 June 2028.
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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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The Werkself returned from the near one-month break in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga with a convincing victory at home. Roberto Pätzold's side beat SC Freiburg 4-1 on Sunday afternoon, with goals from Katharina Piljic, Estrella Merino Gonzalez, Cornelia Kramer and Carlotta Wamser ensuring a 13th win of the season at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. The Black and Reds, who are now on 40 points, move up to fourth place at least overnight.
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