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.
Despite a major personnel shake-up in the summer, RB Leipzig have performed impressively this term. Ahead of matchday 15, coach Ole Werner's team are second in the Bundesliga with a three-point lead over their upcoming opponents Bayer 04. This Saturday, 20 December (kick-off: 18:30 CET), the Werkself are away to RBL who are strong at home. The lowdown on our next opponents.
Show more
This year - for the third time - the parents of the Bayer 04 youth players from the U8 to U15 age groups once again took part in the WDR Christmas Miracle. Under the motto "Goals against hunger in the world - parents in goal!", they organised their own fundraising campaign to once again actively support the important WDR campaign. The sum of €3,420 was handed over at the Glashaus in Essen in the middle of the week during the live programme.
Show more
On Tuesday evening, Bayer 04's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer and its employees welcomed some very special visitors to the company's Christmas market at its headquarters in Wuppertal: Werkself players Robert Andrich, Mark Flekken, Loïc Badé, Jarell Quansah and Malik Tillman spent lots of time with Bayer 04 fans of all ages in the early evening – and also helped to serve drinks such as Glühwein (mulled wine) and delicious food.
Show more
The Leverkusen eSports players picked up just one point on Tuesday 16 December in the remaining three matches of the online preliminary round of Showdown Three in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. As a result, the #B04eSports team once again miss out on going through to the offline knockout phase and now head into the winter break.
Show more
Bayer 04 Leverkusen has always stood for ambition, development, and progress. In recent years, these values have been reflected not only on the pitch, but beyond it. The Werkself continues to grow — regionally, nationally, and now more than ever internationally — and the recent visit from a delegation of our newest international fan club, Bayer4Arab, is a powerful example of this journey.
Show more
