Today's pre-match press conference started with the subject of the announcement of the contract extension for Bosz to 2022. The 56-year-old and Bayer 04 sporting director Simon Rolfes spoke about the contract extension before focusing on the clash with SCP.
And the Dutchman, whose team won the earlier league meeting at the BayArena 3-2 and the DFB Cup game 1-0 at the same venue, immediately highlighted the strengths of the opponents. While Paderborn are currently bottom, "we are talking about the hardest-working team in the league." The hosts covered a total of 2,034 kilometres in the first half of the season. That's three more than the Werkself who are second in that ranking. Bosz: "If nothing less, we have great respect for Paderborn because of that and it will be a tough game. They never give up, have great mentality and are fighting fit!"
It's important to the head coach that the away game does not turn into an end-to-end encounter. "Then everything will be unstructured. That suits them because they have very quick players up front. We'll try to be very compact," explained Bosz who will have to manage without the injured Charles Aránguiz, the suspended Leon Bailey, Wendell and new signing Exequiel Palacios. In addition, Paulinho is away with the Brazil Olympic squad.
Looking back at the first half of the season, the Werkself head coach wishes his team could score more goals. However, he is convinced that they are capable of putting that into action – for two reasons: "We've already shown we can score a lot of goals. In addition, we've created a lots of goalscoring opportunities – above all at the beginning of the season; that's always the start of it. That gives me confidence that we can score more goals than in first half of the season."
Match information:
TV broadcaster: Sky (TV) plus Werkself Radio (Start: 17.30 CET at bayer04.de)
Referee: Daniel Siebert
Tickets: Seats in the stand are available for Bayer 04 fans at the ground.
A group of about 50 members of the Bayer 04 Football Academy São Paulo visited Leverkusen over the past few days, accompanied by Bayer 04 club legend Paulo Sergio and Luiz Felipe (managing director of academy in São Paulo) for a week full of football, encounters and very special insights. In addition to the Bundesliga away game in Elversberg and the home game against Union Berlin, the visit also featured a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy in Leverkusen and a tour of the Bayer AG facilities. The guests also gained special insights into the club and the world of Bayer 04.
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The men's clothing retailer LERROS will remain the official fashion and premium partner of Bayer 04 for the current season. As in the past, LERROS will provide the club's men's team, coaching staff and management with high-quality clothing for international trips.
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“Diaby! Diaby! Diaby!” was the cry around the BayArena as the Werkself danced in front of the north stand following their 4-0 win over Union Berlin. Captain Edmond Tapsoba gave his new (and old) teammate a friendly shove forward to take in the acclaim from the fans. The returning Frenchman was typically reserved in thanking the supporters but was clearly emotional about what was happening.
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Bayer 04 produced a dominant and impressive 4-0 win over Union Berlin as they picked up three points in their first home game of the 2026/27 Bundesliga campaign. Exequiel Fernández opened the scoring after only 41 seconds, with Facundo Medina doubling the lead before the half-hour mark. Patrik Schick and Ibrahim Maza continued the procession in the second period, in which Moussa Diaby came on for his first Leverkusen appearance for over three years.
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