Trio return to training

The Werkself number four suffered painful bruising to his lower leg in the DFB Cup tie at Aachen and was only able to train on his own on Monday. However, he is expected to be available for the first home game of the season on Saturday.

All clear for the skipper

Lars Bender is also confident about playing against the newly promoted team at the weekend. The captain has recovered from a pulled muscle and he took a full part in training on Monday before confirming: "Everything's good. I'm on course."

Hradecky diving again

In addition to Lars Bender, Tin Jedvaj returned to join his team-mates. The Croat World Cup runner-up has recently been sidelined due to back problems. The same applies to Lukas Hradecky. The keeper was suffering from gastroenteritis at the end of last week but on Monday he was diving around at the training ground again. Mitchell Weiser is not quite so close to returning. At the moment, he's working one-to-one with rehab coach Daniel Jouvin but he should return to full training in the near future.

Tah: ‘It was really great'

Around 4,000 Werkself fans followed the team to Aachen last Saturday and they provided vocal support. "It was really great," said Jonathan Tah about the black and red support at the Tivoli. "We've got ambitious targets in the cup as well. And, of course, that sort of backing helps."

Quickest goal of his career

Was it 26 seconds? Or was it 21 seconds that Leon Bailey needed to score the third goal against Alemannia Aachen after coming off the bench? It was "definitely the quickest goal of my career," said the Jamaican who came on with clear instructions from head coach Peter Bosz: "I was supposed to make my runs. The opposition moved further and further up so that left space behind the back four." Bailey did as he was told and was immediately rewarded with a goal one day after his 22nd birthday. "Of course, that was perfect."

Hermann takes up post at the DFB

Last Thursday, 8 August, Peter Hermann watched the Werkself train together with team manager Hans-Peter Lehnhoff and on Monday the DFB announced the role the Bayer 04 legend has accepted. Hermann, who was at Leverkusen for nearly 30 years as a player and coach, will assist head coach Christian Wörns in running the Germany U18 team. "Peter Hermann is an institution in German football and we have been able to bring him in for our youth teams and also for youth development across Germany," said Joti Chatzialexiou, the sporting director of the national teams. Hermann and Wörns got to know each other at Leverkusen. Hermann was assistant coach to Reinhard Saftig when the former Germany international signed for the Werkself in 1991.