"The game here is special for me as I scored my first goal for the national team here. That will always stay with me," described Frimpong, who also revealed that a large chunk of his family, who live in Amsterdam, will be in attendance tomorrow. Alonso also expressed his excitement for the upcoming match at the famous old 'De Kuip' stadium: "It's a historic stadium with a unique atmosphere. Kicking off the Champions League here, it couldn't be better."
What's more, the motivation for the competition is massive. "Everyone wants to play in the Champions League at some point," said the Bayer 04 head coach. "It's the biggest stage, so we're happy to be back on it. We have a challenging but exciting season ahead of us and are really looking forward to it." However, the Spaniard also sounded a word of warning: "All teams start with zero points. Last season a dream came true for us, but we don't want to look back anymore. Our aim now is to prove ourselves again. The players have hunger. We want to get as many points as possible from the first block of four games."
The Spaniard also praised the opponents. "I already watched Feyenoord a lot in the Europa League last season because we could've come up against them at any point and we wanted to be ready." Frimpong also sees the Dutch hosts as a "top team", adding: "I don't think we're the favourites. Feyenoord have been playing at a high level for years and are a big club here in the Netherlands. Some of my team-mates from the national team also play here. We have great respect for them. So, the game tomorrow could go either way."
They'll have to pay particular attention to striker Santiago Gimenez, according to Alonso. "He'll be a big challenge for our defence," he explained. "He's a very all-round player, has good movement and is always willing, so we'll need to keep an eye on him at all times."
A crowd of 42,000 is expected at "De Kuip" - "the tub" in English - including 2,500 visiting supporters. All Werkself fans should read the club's fan info for the match.
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 working 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 personal 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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen and sponsors club partner NRG24 are continuing their partnership, which has been in place since the summer of 2023. The Bundesliga football club and the energy consultancy firm have extended their successful partnership until 30 June 2027.
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