The Swiss coach announced the most important news at the start: "All our international players have returned fit and well, have trained and are available tomorrow," said Gerardo Seoane at the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon. Only the long-term injured players Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli and Timothy Fosu-Mensah plus the suspended Kerem Demirbay are missing. That also means: Striker Patrik Schick, last in action in the middle of February, returns to the squad against Hertha Berlin following his calf injury.
Seoane explained in relation to the Czech Republic international: "He has continually improved over the last two weeks and has come through this week well too. He doesn't feel any after-effects of the injury any more although he is aware of the increasing workload at times.
The Berlin team had not secured a single victory in 2022 up to the last matchday. So, the management at Hertha Berlin decided to change coaches following the fifth defeat in succession. The former Werkself head coach Tayfun Korkut had to go in the middle of March and Felix Magath was brought in until the end of the season. "We know he has had a certain effect on the team now," said Seoane about his experienced fellow coach.
Magath clocked up the first win for the Old Lady since 18 December of last year – even though the 68-year-old coach was not in the dugout for the 3-0 home win against TSG Hoffenheim due to a Covid-19 infection. They were an important three points as the battle to avoid relegation has now become more exciting with Hertha sixteenth in the Bundesliga on 26 points. VfB Stuttgart (14th) and Arminia Bielefeld (17th) are separated by just one point.
The Werkself are clearly better placed in third position – but, for Seoane, the situation in the table "doesn't matter. It will be a difficult game against a resilient side. We want to do all we can to get a positive result."
That will require an improvement in performance compared with the last game. "We've drawn certain conclusions from the Wolfsburg match," said Seoane about the 2-0 win against the Wolves. He's looking to be "more compact" against Hertha and in attack it is about again making more collective moves. "We were mostly dangerous through individual moves at Wolfsburg," said the Bayer 04 coach. That has been worked on in the past few days.
The support from the stands could be a trump card in this mission. For the first time since 7 March 2020 – that is more than two years ago – the full capacity is again possible at the BayArena. "We're extremely happy about that and hope as many people as possible will come to the game," declared Seoane. "The team needs the support. Fans can be the twelfth man especially in the closing stages or in tight situations in the match."
For the home game at the BayArena against Hertha Berlin on Saturday 2 April (kick-off: 15.30 CEST), there will be a large number of closures affecting S-Bahn and motorway traffic due to the work on infrastructure for the Rhein-Ruhr-Express: S-Bahn trains between Cologne and Düsseldorf terminate at the Chempark station. From here there is a replacement bus service to Langenfeld – the same applies in the other direction. All spectators planning to travel by rail are advised by Bayer 04 to take the RB 48 to the Leverkusen-Manfort station. From there there is a 20-minute walk to the BayArena.
From Friday 1 April (22.00 CEST) to Monday 11 April (05.00 CEST), the Willy-Brandt-Ring between Carl-Duisberg-Straße and Edith-Weyde-Straße will be completely closed to road traffic as well as pedestrians and cyclists. The motorway exit from the A3 interchange for Leverkusen city centre is closed. Diversions will be shown for road traffic.
Car drivers wanting to reach the Kurtekotten car park via the A3 should come off the motorway in Köln-Mülheim and head for the car park via the B8 in the direction of Leverkusen (Düsseldorfer Straße). Otto-Bayer-Straße is recommended for satnav use. Car drivers who have parking permits around the BayArena recommended to use the A3 taking the Leverkusen-Opladen exit. From there, the car parks (green and red) will be signposted.
Bayer 04 recommends all fans to arrive early at the game. The BayArena opens two hours before kick-off at 13.30 CEST.
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