Until Sunday’s departure for North Germany, the Werkself are commuting in two coaches between the training ground on Bismarckstraße and the hotel where they eating and being looked after, holding meetings and also spending their leisure time. “In this crisis there are people facing difficult challenges. Complaining and having fun always have their place in a football team. But it’s going well and we’ll easily get through this week,” explained Hradecky in an online media interview after today’s trading session.
The Finn prefers to concentrate on the forthcoming restart in Germany’s top flight. The level in the sessions is already very high in spite of the many weeks without full training sessions. “You can feel everybody’s excitement. We’re in a good position in the table and want to take that momentum into the rest of the season,” said the 30-year-old who highlighted the necessary increased communication on the pitch. “It was an important issue for us before the games were suspended and is not even more significant with the quiet of the stadiums with games played behind closed doors.”
The 1.92 metre giant does not yet know what sort of atmosphere awaits him and his teammates. The away game at Bremen’s Wohninvest Weserstadion will be the first match behind closed doors in Hradecky’s career to date. “Of course, we would prefer to play in front of fans. But, on Monday, it might be a slight advantage for us that Bremen won’t be playing in front of a full house at home,” explained the number one keeper who is hoping for more luck on the pitch for the Black and Reds compared with the game earlier in the season.

In the 2-2 draw at the end of October in front of a sold-out BayArena, Hradecky had to pick the ball out of his net twice from deflected shots from Milot Rashica (40’) and Davy Klaassen (48’). “That match was probably during our poorest phase of this season,” said the Finn. For the match in Bremen, he is hoping Werder feel “a bit more pressure” given their current position in the table – Bremen are 17th at the moment. Hradecky was however unable to make a prediction of whether favourites or underdogs would have more wins in games behind closed doors.
The Werkself keeper is in positive mood ahead of restarting the season with his team on Monday and rounding off matchday 26: “We will watch everything on TV at the hotel at the weekend. And after the games, I’ll definitely ask my former teammates at Frankfurt how it was so we’re prepared.”


It was a match that will live long in the memory of everyone involved: The Bayer 04 U19s celebrated their seventh win in seven matches in the DFB Youth League preliminary round – and yet it was a very special victory indeed: in the 4–3 (1–1) win at VfL Bochum 1848, no fewer than five goals came in the final quarter of an hour. As the 90th minute approached, coach Patrick Greveraars’s side found themselves behind, but then fought back in true ‘Laterkusen’ style.
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Under Carles Martínez, the Werkself have so far proved unbeatable at the BayArena. The Spaniard has led his team to victory in all three of their most recent home matches – and, it's worth noting, without conceding a single goal. On Sunday, 18 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST / live on DAZN and Werkself Radio), current league leaders SC Freiburg will make the trip to Leverkusen, but will be without their top scorer. What's more, the Werkself have won all three of their previous home matches against the Black Forest club. With a goal, Patrik Schick could not only secure a fourth consecutive victory but also set a memorable record. Meanwhile, on what will be the ‘Health Day' at the BayArena, much of the focus will be on physical wellbeing. Today's matchday news.
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Bayer 04 Women missed out on victory in the Google Pixel Bundesliga as they were held to a draw at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Estrella Merino Gonzalez had put the Werkself ahead directly from a corner at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion, before Laura Freigang levelled for the visitors as it finished all square between fourth and third on Matchday 7.
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Freiburg have made an impressive start to the season, unbeaten in nine games across all competitions, with eight of them wins. Now the Bundesliga leaders come to the BayArena on Sunday to take on the Werkself, but Julian Schuster’s team will be missing their top scorer. Here’s the lowdown on our next opponent.
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