presentation of volunteering award
As with last week, Bundesliga matchday 14 is also dedicated to volunteering. While the teams thank the numerous volunteers across the country with a banner as part of the DFB campaign "Thanks to Volunteers", Bayer 04 also shows its appreciation as a club and awards the Volunteer Prize worth a total of €15,000 to two winners from the region at half-time for the nineteenth time. Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO and Leverkusen City Director Marc Adomat will be be on hand at the presentation.
#B04KOE: match facts
The Werkself have an almost perfect record against Bundesliga newcomers, losing only one of the last 23 games. The Black and Reds have a 61 per cent win rate against FC Köln this millennium and have won all of the last three meetings. There will full commitment on the pitch and in the stands on Saturday night. While the Cologne team have the sixth-highest number of duels won challenge rate in the league (51.6 per cent), Leverkusen are top in this statistic (54 per cent). Captain Robert Andrich was suitably motivated after the 2-2 draw with Newcastle United in the UEFA Champions League: "We'll give our all on Saturday at 6.30 pm."
focus on the goats
After a lightning start with two wins in the first two games, FC Köln have slowed down somewhat winning only two of their last ten games. However, Lukas Kwasniok's team is regularly full of energy and fighting spirit and they make life difficult even for the top teams. However, the Goats solid defence (21 goals conceded) has recently been plagued by injury: Eric Martel and new signings Sebastian Sebulonsen and Rav van den Berg have played in a back three in the absence of Timo Hübers, Joël Schmied and Dominique Heintz. However, FC Köln's vulnerability at set-pieces remains - as does the strong attack led by Jakub Kaminski, Ragnar Ache, Marius Bülter and top scorer and provider Said El Mala (6 goals, 3 assists), who are all fit and always capable of scoring. What the Werkself need to look out for is in our lowdown on the next opponents.
Werkself Live
Keep up-to-date with the match against the team from Cologne. The best way is to take a look at the new Werkself Live. The matchday magazine, which provides the most key facts and stats on the game in compact form, is available at the BayArena. Alternatively, it is also available free on line. This time on the XXL poster: Jonas Hofmann. Click HERE for the e-paper.
