Champions League: 'Baumgartlinger’ makes journalist nervous:

How will it turn out this year? Although Bayer 04 have mostly looked good against Atletico, it has been the Madrid side who usually ends up celebrating. In the Europa League in 2011, two 1-1 draws were enough to see the Werkself progress and Atletico go out of the group stage. In contrast, Atletico had the upper hand in the Round of 16 in both 2015 and 2017. Although it was very tight in 2015. After a 1-0 win at Leverkusen in the first leg, the Spaniards achieved the same result in the return game taking the tie to penalties where 'Los Colchoneros' held their nerve. The team's nickname comes from the club's colours: red and white. As most mattresses were produced in those colours for many years in Spain, the players and fans were called 'mattress makers' – Los Colchoneros.

Fernando Carro

Although the Bayer 04 CEO was born in Barcelona, Fernando Carro also feels very much at home in the country's capital. That is due, in no small part, to many years spent working in Madrid. The 55-year-old, who has been at Bayer 04 since 2018, believes "as an intractable and unswerving optimist" in the possibility of clocking up the first win in the Champions League this term at the Wanda Metropolitano. "We'll only have a chance if we push ourselves to the limit."

Völler: one good half is not enough

Rudi Völler takes a similar view, namely that the possibility of going through from the group stage is not yet ruled out. "We are under a certain amount of pressure after two defeats. We have to pick up points and ideally start in Madrid," said the managing director sport ahead of the departure from Cologne Airport. Völler said it would not be easy. Atletico are "a tough opponent with a very rustic and physical style." At the same time, the Spaniards will not have celebrated when they drew Bayer 04. "We can hurt them. But one thing is clear: One good half is not enough." Even though Los Rojiblancos did see a lot of comings and goings over the summer, "their style of play remains unchanged. We have to stand up to them." Peter Bosz stated his position ahead of the game in the pre-match press conference.

Baumgartlinger: a lot can happen

Before flying out from Germany, Bayer 04 TV had the opportunity to talk to Julian Baumgartlinger ahead of the match. He revealed that he believes there will be a very varied approach from the opponents: "Similar to Friday in Frankfurt, we will face a very physical team in Madrid. Beyond that, Atletico are also a team that can be very strong in possession if they want to. But they are also capable of remaining tight defensively and waiting for their chance to play on the break." For Baumi, it will come down to being able to play a good game for 90 minutes. "We had a decent first half in Turin but less so in the second half. We have to produce a consistently good performance over 90 minutes and then a lot can happen."

Baumi makes Journalist nervous

Talking about 'Baumgartlinger': The name produced beads of sweat running down the face of a Spanish journalist. She was conducting interviews for the Spanish TV broadcaster 'movistar' and was tasked with interviewing our captain of the Austria team. In order to be able to correctly pronounce the surname of the interviewee she accepted help from the UEFA media officers from Switzerland who said it took a good five minutes for them to keep repeating the name. Baumgartlinger himself was very generous after the interview: "She did it well." The journalist was also happy but probably would not object if the likeable player from Austria is not named Man of the Match with the associated possible reunion in the Mixed Zone after the game.

the class of 2016/17

A look at the possible line-up for Atletico clearly reveals that the team coached by Diego Simeone has changed since the last clash in the spring of 2017 but it appears probable that five players from back then will feature in the game in goalkeeper Jan Oblak, defender Giminez and plus the two midfielders Koke and Thomas as well as the striker Saul Niguez. There are also two other familiar faces amongst Los Rojiblancos who both played against the Werkself in the 2016/17 Champions League campaign: Kieran Trippier for Tottenham Hotspur and Thomas Lemar for AS Monaco – the class of 2016/17 meets up.

Joao Felix sidelined

He is a rising super star in European football: Joao Felix. However, the Portuguese will not play tonight. The Atletico number seven suffered an ankle injury against Valencia last Saturday. In spite of that, the Spanish journalists at the pre-match press conference wanted to know what Peter Bosz and Julian Baumgartlinger thought about the Atletico shooting star. While our number 15 said he is an "outstanding prospect in world football", our head coach was more reserved: "He's a good player. But Atletico are a big team and a team like that has lots of good players."

Nothing is impossible

Bayer 04, without Wendell, Leon Bailey, Charles Aranguiz and Daley Sinkgraven,  can take heart from the next opponents in the Bundesliga, Werder Bremen, as they progressed from their group in the 2005/06 Champions League campaign on the back of two defeats. After losing 2-0 to Barcelona and 2-1 at Panathinaikos, the team coached by Thomas Schaaf drew at Udinese before going on to beat the Italians and Greeks at home to finish second behind Barca.

Havertz nominated for Kopa Trophy 

France Football published the list for the Ballon d'Or award on Monday evening, 21 October. Amongst the men, Marc-Andre ter Stegen has been nominated as has the German player Dzsenifer Marozsan for the women. One Leverkusen player is also in with a chance of winning an award. The Kopa Trophy for the best Under 21 player could go to Kai Havertz this year. Our home-grown talent and the Englishman Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund) are on the list of the ten nominated top talents. The winners will be determined by sports journalists from around the world and the awards will be presented at a ceremony in Paris on 2 December.

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