Lars Bender was visibly happy at the prospect of tomorrow's game. The Werkself skipper made his views clear at the press conference: "We've worked hard to get back into the Champions League. That's why we want to make tomorrow night a great one."
Roger Schmidt adopted the same position and recalled the frenetic end to the second half of last campaign that meant not having to take part in the play-offs. "Since the referee blew for full-time against Hertha we have been looking forward to it and now it's finally here," said Schmidt who has been forced into making some changes.
Schmidt: "Volland an option"
Karim Bellarabi is ruled out of Wednesday's game after suffering a groin injury in the Hamburg match at the weekend and the same applies to Vladlen Yurchenko (hairline fracture to fibula). "Otherwise everybody else is available," said Schmidt. New signing Aleksandar Dragovic was joined by Stephan Kießling, Charles Aranguiz and Kevin Volland at the final pre-match training session. "Kevin had physical contact with his arm in training and he felt comfortable. He's an option for the squad," said Schmidt.
Joel Pohjanpalo is another obvious candidate. The hat-trick hero from the Hamburg match, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on Tuesday, can be hopeful of being in the starting eleven. "Joel is a player who can play from the start in the Champions League – nothing can be ruled out," said Schmidt.
The match will be refereed by the Italian Daniele Orsato and 25,000 tickets have been sold so far. The remaining tickets go on sale when the gates are opened tomorrow night and Bayer 04 would like to remind supporters that large bags and rucksacks are not allowed in the stadium at Champions League matches
The Leverkusen eSports team played the remaining three of the six matches in the online preliminary round of the fourth showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. RB Leipzig and SC Freiburg were among the teams with the highest goal threat, including two World Cup participants in their ranks. Although the #B04eSports players were defeated in the matches overall, nine points from the first three games last week were enough for Leverkusen to advance to the offline round in Berlin on 2 February.
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A decisive showdown awaits: The Werkself are aiming to progress to the play-off round of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League with a home win against Villarreal CF on the eighth and final matchday of the league phase. Ahead of the match on Wednesday, 28 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the importance of the game, the possible return of Edmond Tapsoba and a statement from new signing Jonas Omlin in an exclusive interview with Werkself TV. Lucas Vázquez, for his part, spoke about his role on and off the pitch as well as tomorrow’s opponents, who he often faced in Spain with Real Madrid.
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For Villarreal CF, the match at Bayer 04 on Wednesday, 28 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), will be their last appearance on the European stage this season. The Spanish side, currently fourth in La Liga, are still without a win in the UEFA Champions League and, with just one point from their seven games so far, have no chance of making the play-offs. The 2021 Europa League winners can therefore play without any pressure at the BayArena and will be looking to bow out of the competition with a good performance. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will to have manage without forward Eliesse Ben Seghir. The Morocco international suffered a ligament injury in his left ankle before the AFCON final defeat against Senegal (0-1 a.e.t.).
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