Another real highlight for the participants at the Bayer 04 Soccer School: Julian Baumgartlinger called in to to see the kids and made himself available for questions and selfies at the BayArena Media Centre. The Austria international also found time for the '04 questions from us, 04 questions from you' interview. Bayer 04 followers on Twitter and Facebook took part by posting their questions and we've put a selection to the 29-year-old Werkself midfielder.
Julian, what's the mood been like in the past few days after the 0-0 draw against Bayern?
Julian Baumgartlinger: On the one hand, we needed to recover after all the kilometres we put in and, on the other, it was a moral victory. We had to do a lot of chasing and fighting but fortunately we were rewarded with a draw. You can take that as a positive.
You've got five games left. What's the strategy?
Julian Baumgartlinger: Ideally winning every game if we can. That's how we have to approach it. We've let ourselves down over the season and there are five games left for us to improve our position. That means playing to win in every game.
There's a somewhat longer week of training before Sundays game at Freiburg. What's the focus?
Julian Baumgartlinger: A lot of work with the ball, a lot of training with the squad. We've already had several very intensive sessions. In such a long week, the coach has the chance to have a greater input as well as the opportunity to fine tune and adjust. It's doing as good. I think we're very well prepared for Freiburg.
How great is the motivation to qualify for the Europa League?
Julian Baumgartlinger: As I said, we want to win all five matches to get as high up the table as we can. However, if you look at our current situation 36 points: The gap in either direction is not huge so we need to keep an eye in every direction. We just need to focus on ourselves and take the first step at Freiburg.
Thomas Reichert via Facebook: Summer is just around the corner. Isn't it time for a short haircut?
Julian Baumgartlinger: (laughs) I've made a compromise with my top knot in the past few months but I don't think I can separate myself from my mop
@Mario_SVB via Twitter: You were the captain at Mainz. Do you want to take a leadership role at Bayer 04?
Julian Baumgartlinger: I think it's the aim of every player to become a regular first choice and then become a leader later in your career.
@EricPaulus03 via Twitter: We're you good at school?
Julian Baumgartlinger: To be honest, I think I was a really good school student. I also got really decent A-levels so school went really well for me.
Martin Krausz via Facebook: If you could bring a team-mate from the Austria national side to Leverkusen, who would it be?
Julian Baumgartlinger: I have a lot of contact with friends who play in the Bundesliga. I’d definitely bring either Florian Klein fromVfB Stuttgart or Zlatko Junuzovic from Werder Bremen to us.
Two keepers, lots of questions: Werkself captain Lukas Hradecky and U19 goalkeeper Jesper Schlich visited the BarmeniaGothaer children’s press conference in partnership with the Bayer 04 Lions Club on Wednesday afternoon. The duo faced interesting and at times unusual questions from around 50 inquisitive young journalists in the press conference room at the BayArena.
Show moreThe Easter holidays enticed a large number of Bayer 04 fans to come to the training ground at the BayArena, today Wednesday 16 April, to watch the Werkself at an open training session in the afternoon. Afterwards, the players and head coach Xabi Alonso took time out to sign autographs and pose for photographs. And there was a lot going on besides: While midfield maestro Granit Xhaka fielded questions at an entertaining children's press conference, including the story behind his squad number 34, Nathan Tella faced the media.
Show moreWerkself players Nordi Mukiele and Niklas Lomb attended the Bayer 04 Football School on Tuesday afternoon. In the first week of the autumn half-term, the new signing and the long-serving goalkeeper answered numerous questions from over 100 young footballers at the kids press conference. After the round of questions, there was of course a group photo as well as an autograph session, where the duo didn't leave a single kit or boot unsigned.
Show moreA highlight as ever: In the second week of summer holidays, the many children at the Bayer 04 Football School were able to look forward to meeting another Werkself player. This time it was Arthur who took time out to answer the questions from the inquisitive children and he was happy to pose for selfies and sign autographs.
Show moreA busy day just a few days before the actual start of pre-season preparations: On Thursday, Victor Boniface and Odilon Kossounou first worked up a sweat on the training pitch with another duo, after which the German double winners happily signed autographs and posed for selfies with the children of the Bayer 04 Football School.
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