Focused and yet relaxed; that was how Korkut looked on the day before his Champions League debut in the dugout. No sign of excitement. "I experienced a lot as a player and still have good memories of the stadium," he explained in fluent Spanish with the local journalist hanging on his every word – also as Korkut talked about the position after the 4-2 defeat for the Werkself in the first leg: "We are the underdogs but we want to use every minute to turn it round."
Personnel position at Bayer 04
The new head coach will be missing several regular players. In addition to Hakan Calhanoglu (CAS ban) and suspended Benjamin Henrichs, the injured Lars Bender (ankle), Ömer Toprak (knee), Jonathan Tah (groin) and Stefan Kießling (hip) are all ruled out. In addition, the youngster Kai Havertz has remained at home as he has important exams ahead of his A-levels at the Landrat Lucas Grammar School.
Korkut is still looking for a positive result in spite of all the absentees: "We are Bayer 04 and always have a strong team. I have full confidence in every individual player." The new Werkself head coach is well aware that it won't be easy to score goals against the Atlético defence and also that it needs at least three goals on Wednesday to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals. "But we want to do all we can to achieve that and that's how we'll approach the game. And then we'll see how the game turns out."
Korkut's second clash with Simeone
He faced his opposite number Diego Simeone at the Estadio Vicente Calderon as a player in 2004. At that time, Simeone was playing for the Rojiblancos and Korkut for Espanyol. In the 2-0 win for Atlético back then, a fresh-faced Fernando Torres (El Nino) scored both goals. It remains to be seen whether he will start for Simeone on Wednesday. In a league match against La Corunna (1-1) a week and a half ago he was knocked unconscious and swallowed his tongue. This week Torres returned to full training. Filipe Luis and stalwart Gabi are both sidelined after picking up a third yellow card in the first leg.
The VBL Club Championship by WOW 2025/26 continues today, Tuesday 18 November, with the last two of the six online preliminary round matches in the second showdown. Starting at 18:00 CET, Bayer 04 face Karlsruher SC, followed by Borussia Mönchengladbach at 19:00 CET. The games will be streamed live on the Bayer 04 app and on the club Twitch channel. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Just 11 days after their last encounter in the Bundesliga, Bayer 04 Women meet Hamburger SV again. On Sunday (15:00 CET), the two teams will be battling it out at the Volksparkstadion for a place in the DFB Cup quarter-finals. Coach Roberto Pätzold is aware of his team's status as favourites against the promoted outfit - and knows what it will come down to against the awkward opponents.
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Bayer 04 Women goalkeeper Charlotte Voll has been hit by injury again. The 26-year-old suffered an acromioclavicular joint separation in her left shoulder in the latter stages of the Bundesliga match at SC Freiburg on Monday and is set to be sidelined for a number of months. She underwent successful surgery in Düsseldorf on Friday.
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Like they did in the first showdown of the VBL Club Championship by WOW, which the Leverkusen gamers won in spectacular style, Marc and Sean Landwehr also started the second showdown with six points by beating TSG Hoffenheim and VfL Bochum 1848, last-16 participants of the first showdown. The #B04eSports team suffered defeat to SV Darmstadt 98 and Hertha BSC. Meanwhile, Keanu Senkbeil made his VBL CC debut in the clash with the capital club.
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The Bayer 04 Women will end 2025 with the Bundesliga top match against Bayern Munich on Monday night, 22 December. The schedule for matchdays 12 to 15 has been announced by the German Football Association (DFB). In addition to two away games on Fridays, Leverkusen also have a home game on a Saturday lunchtime.
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