"It's an emotional stadium, there’s going to be a great atmosphere," said Kasper Hjulmand at the start of the pre-match press conference on Monday night. The Dane has already been to the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis with previous teams, so he knows the Olympiacos home ground inside out. For the game against the Greek top club, Hjulmand said, "we need a better performance than last time, to be honest. We need structure again. Our philosophy is our weapon and our way of playing football."
Hjulmand said of his opponents: "They play good football and have a good coach with a lot of experience (José Luis Mendilibar, ed.). They are compact and at the same time have individual quality. We know what kind of opponent we're up against. We are ready and our goal is to reach the next round of this competition. We have the opportunity to do that with a win. We're here to do that and are therefore looking forward to it."
Ibrahim Maza, for his part, talked about the recent defeats: "Of course, the games are on our minds a bit, but the mood is good. We'll take the setbacks as motivation and hopefully pick up three points."
When asked about the Africa Cup of Nations, Maza said: "It was a great tournament. It was a blow to get eliminated, but that's all part of it. You can only learn and develop from it. I feel great to be back here now."
A number of injured players, including Mark Flekken and Nathan Tella, will not be available for the game against Olympiacos. Hjulmand provided a squad update: "It's never nice, of course, but I always focus on the players available. We also have a good team with a lot of quality on the pitch tomorrow." The team will be cheered on in Athens by 1,400 travelling Bayer 04 fans.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended Abdoulaye Faye’s contract by a further year to 30 June 2031. During the 2026/27 season, the talented defender will play for Celta Vigo on loan without an option to buy. The 21-year-old Senegalese is set to feature in La Liga and the UEFA Europa League with last season’s sixth-placed side in Spain.
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The Werkself's training camp in Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog you'll find all the insights and updates from the day. The programme on day one (Sunday 2 August) includes a media round with managing director sport Simon Rolfes, free time for the team after the friendly against Rot-Weiss Essen and before an intensive week of training begins, as well as a coffee get-together where CEO Fernando Carro and Rolfes met around 100 fans in the afternoon.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed Kerim Alajbegovic’s transfer to Italian record champions Juventus. The club brought the 18-year-old attacking player back to Leverkusen this summer via a buy-back option, following a season at Red Bull Salzburg. Until his move to Austria, the Bosnia international had been playing for Bayer 04’s Under-19s.
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A warm welcome to the Weimarer Land, Bayer 04! The Werkself moved into their accommodation for this year’s training camp on Saturday evening. In Blankenhain, Thuringia, head coach Carles Martínez’s team have a programme of gruelling training sessions – several of which will be open to fans – and team-building activities lined up for the next six days. We’ll be following the Werkself up close and providing you with exclusive insights, quotes, photos and videos from the training camp.
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With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
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