"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.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 4-0 win at SGS Essen on the 24th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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Bayer 04 put in a brilliant performance to beat RB Leipzig 4-1 on Bundesliga matchday 32 and are now fourth in a Champions League spot. The Black and Reds took control of the game right from the start and, with 75 per cent possession at one stage, took a 2-0 lead into the break through Patrik Schick (25’) and Nathan Tella (45+1’). The visitors initially tried to do more after the break, but the Werkself remained determined and Schick scored his second goal to increase the lead to 3-0 (76'). The Red Bulls pulled a goal back through Christoph Baumgartner (80'), but the disciplined Leverkusen side were not rattled - and certainly not Schick: The Czechia international crowned a brilliant display with his third goal shortly before the final whistle to make the final score 4-1.
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In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
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Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
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