The Werkself have a good record at the BayArena. Schmidt’s team have not lost any of the last eight European games at home and the hope is the run continues. “We have to show what we can do on the pitch,” said Jonathan Tah at the press conference ahead of matchday three in the group stage – looking back at the weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.
Spurs will present the Werkself with a tough challenge. Tottenham are the only unbeaten team in England’s top flight and Roger Schmidt travelled to London to watch this week’s opponents secure a convincing 2-0 win at home to league leaders Manchester City. “I saw a great game and a team from London that invested a lot in attack. They are also very solid at the back and they don’t give much away,” said Schmidt.
It remains to be seen whether Lars Bender can recover in time from a bout of flu. “He’s a bit better but not 100 per cent fit. We’ll have to wait and see if he makes it,” said Schmidt. The skipper did take part in the final pre-match training session.
The ticket offices are open today. Category IV (€42, concessions €28) and category II (€60, concessions €44) tickets are available in the Leverkusen section in blocks B1, F6 and F8.
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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