Run-in to Stuttgart game starts

After the Werkself gathered for recovery and match replacement training plus the first post-match analysis the day after the 4-2 defeat against RB Leipzig, head coach Peter Bosz continued working with his players in open sessions on Monday and Tuesday.

Volland returns

Good news for Bayer 04: Kevin Volland,  who missed training at the start of the week due to a cold, was back on the training ground on Tuesday. Together with fitness coach Daniel Jouvin, the Werkself striker completed an individual session on the neighbouring pitch. He was later joined by Jonathan Tah and Lars Bender after the pair had completed the first part of the training session together with their team-mates. Both Tah (workload control) and the skipper Bender, who has been sidelined with a hamstring problem recently, both trained on their own on Monday. The same applied to Leon Bailey on Tuesday. The Jamaican was given a special fitness program by the coaching staff which involved a session in the gym at the BayArena in the morning. 

End of the season for Pohjanpalo

In contrast to the quartet, who should be available for the game at Stuttgart, this season has already come to an end for Joel Pohjanpalo. The 24-year-old, who recently returned to training and celebrated his comeback in the friendly against Ajax after eight months sidelined through injury, complained about pain in his right ankle. In the view of the medical section, there is no alternative to a long lay-off for the Finland international albeit the apparent set-back does represent a further improvement in the health of the bone structure in his foot. That means the Werkself will be without a second player for the rest of the campaign with Karim Bellarabi also ruled out due to injury.

There is no full training session on Wednesday and the final two ahead of the Stuttgart match on Saturday will be held behind closed doors.