
At the final open training session before the Stuttgart match, head coach Heiko Herrlich was able to welcome back Karim Bellarabi, Charles Aránguiz and Wendell to the training ground after their respective injuries. While Bellarabi, whose muscle problems emerged in the Monday training session leading to him being rested, was able to train with the team again, Aránguiz (knee) completed an individual session on the training ground with fitness coach Daniel Jouvin. The same applied to Wendell as he was able to have his first contact with the ball again since his ankle injury sustained at Leipzig.
The absentees from the Wednesday training session were Joel Pohjanpalo (rehab after foot injury) and Jonathan Tah (hip injury) plus Bernd Leno. The Bayer 04 keeper worked in the BayArena in a light session following his knee injury. According to Herrlich, he should be available for the game against Stuttgart. That also goes for Kevin Volland and Sven Bender who also trained indoors for reasons of reducing their workload.

Werkself TV shows highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
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The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
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Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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