It's not going to plan for Leverkusen at the moment. Eight points from eight games – that is the poorest return since 2006/07 and unfortunately there is not much else to say about it. Even though the Werkself are the not the favourites ahead of the meeting in the Hanseatic City of Bremen against a revitalised Werder side, it is still far too early - with less than a quarter of the season gone - to throw in the towel: 78 points are still up for grabs. At least mathematically. "I'm convinced we can overcome this difficult situation together," said a confident Heiko Herrlich at the pre-match press conference on Friday. And why not? The Black and Reds need to get back on track as soon as possible . Ideally in the overtaking lane on the A1 autobahn
The weather forecast for Sunday evening predicts few breaks in an overcast sky and cool temperatures around 7 degrees. For fans that means: Wrap up warm. The Werkself will also have to be prepared. Werder have clamly and quietly developed into a top team – third place after eight games in the league is no coincidence. That's backed up by the figures. For example, since the appointment of Florian Kohfeldt as head coach in November 2017 Werder are unbeaten in 17 home games (9 wins, 8 draws) – a club record for the Green and Whites. And on top of that: With Kohfeldt at the helm, only Bayern Munich (77) and Borussia Dortmund (55) have picked up more points in the league than Werder (54 including 15 wins) – only FC Bayern have won more often in that period and conceded fewer goals. Very impressive…
Talking off conceding goals. After eight games, the Bremen goalkeepers Jiri Pavlenka (7 appearances) and Luca Plogmann (1 appearance) have only picked the ball out of the net eight times between them. That is not only the best Bremen pefromance for nine years but also the top return in the league! In the last two games (against Wolfsburg and Schalke 04) Werder have kept clean sheets. All good things come in threes? As if! It's time to spoil the Green and White party with two months to go to Christmas. And make sure the ball ends up in their net more often than ours. Just as VfB Stuttgart did a month ago – when they inflicted the first defeat of the season on Werder Bremen.
The Werkself and Werder have faced each other 76 times in Germany's top flight. Th fixture has ended all square 30 times – from a Bayer 04 persepctive that is more often than against any other oppponent. Over half (16) were at the Weserstadion. As was the case last term when the two teams shared a goalless draw on the penultimate matchday of the season. The Herrlich team won the earlier game of the season at Leverksuen 1-0. Just like the DFB Cup quarter final at the BayArena where the Werkslef ran out 4-2 winners after extra time. It would definitelt in the interest of the Black and Reds for Werder to make it 04 games in succession without a win against Bayer 04.
The DFB have appointed Marco Fritz as the match referee. In his last game involving Bayer 04, the 41-year-old from Baden-Württemberg was in charge on matchday three when the Werkself beat Mainz 05 at home. Moreover, the FIFA referee was the man in the middle in the previously mentioned 4-2 DFB Cup win, the last Werkself victory over Werder. A good omen possibly? We'll see. This will be the fourth time Marco Fritz has refereed Black and Red versus Grren and White (the record: 1 win, 2 defeats). The banker will be assisted on Sunday by Eduard Beitinger and Marcel Pelgrim, with Christof Günsch the fourth official – Patrick Ittrich and Johann Pfeifer are tyhe VAR referees in Cologne.
So far, so good! As always, all Bayer 04 fans unable to be at the game to support the Werkself are welcome to come to the Schwadbud to watch the game: The fan pub at the BayArena (East Stand) opens its doors at 17.00 CET and Bayer 04 fans are welcome to get together to support the lads. Other options to follow the Werkself from afar are available through the club website with live text commentary and the Werkself Radio (in German). And information on #SVWB04 is also available via the club social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat). So it is time for action on the pitch. Come on you Black and Reds! Fight and win!
Winger Synne Skinnes Hansen is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the end of the season. The 29-year-old, who will be out of contract, is set to join Valerenga IF back home in Norway.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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Analysing and further developing goalkeeping together is the target of the annual goalkeeping coaches meeting of the German Football Association (DFB). The goalkeeping coaches in the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the third division, divided into regional groups, meet every year under the guidance of DFB goalkeeping coordinator Marc Ziegler. Following 2023, the meeting of the goalkeeping coaches of professional clubs from the Western region took place yesterday, Tuesday 29 April, at the BayArena for the second time. The Werkself goalkeeping coach David Thiel acted as the host of the meeting and he made an impromptu contribution.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed to loan U19 striker Artem Stepanov to FC Nürnberg, currently tenth in Bundesliga 2, for the 2025/26 season. The Ukrainian centre-forward is set to gain match practice at a high level under the guidance of FCN coach and World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. The loan is due to run for twelve months.
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