9.45 CET: Departure of the Werkself from the BayArena
There was an emotional start to this special cup weekend! Early on Friday morning, over 1,000 Werkself supporters and Bayer 04 employees met up on Bismarckstraße to see their team again ahead of the cup tie, to motivate them and to show them: You’re not alone on your mission. The fans formed a guard of honour on both sides of the street the bus with the Werkself on board would travel down at 9.45 en route to Cologne/Bonn Airport.
11.00 CET: Flight departs for Berlin
The charter flight took off at 11.00 and landed safe and sound at Berlin-Tegel Airport just after midday. Also on board were the two managing directors Fernando Carro and Rudi Völler plus other Bayer 04 officials. The injured Daley Sinkgraven and youth players Marcel Lotka, Fabian Rüth, Ayman Azhil and Adrian Stanilewicz flew out to the capital on Saturday morning along with selected partner representatives and Bayer 04 members of staff.
12.30 CET: Team arrives at the hotel
After the transfer to the team hotel near to Potsdamer Platz - in the centre of the action in Germany’s biggest city - and the communal lunch, head coach Peter Bosz and captain Lars Bender went to the pre-match press conference at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
18.30 CET: Final pre-match training session at the Olympic Stadium
The pre-match training session was held at the cult venue in the evening. In fine weather, Kai Havertz and Co. trained for 15 minutes in front of the media cameras as usual and 45 minutes behind closed doors.
11.00 CET: A couple of supporters in front of the team hotel
The DFB as match organisers and the finalists clearly advised fans ahead of the game not to travel Berlin because of the coronavirus pandemic and various hygiene regulations. Instead of the usual onslaught there were only a few supporters in front of the team hotel - mostly maintaining their social distance and with face masks.
14.30 CET: Pre-match walk
In the early afternoon, Peter Bosz, his coaches and players went for a communal walk as usual on matchdays to stretch the legs and get limbered up. The Berliners were not taken aback when they came across the Werkself players.
19.00 CET: Fans meet up in small groups
It got serious on Saturday night. Ahead of the 04th final involving the Black and Red, the Werkself fans met up in small group to enjoy the final in Leverkusen with a tasty meal and one or two cold drinks.
20.00 CET: The final at the Olympic Stadium
Shortly after that, it was time for referee Tobias Welz to start the 77th DFB Cup final - under exceptional circumstances - and the rest is history. The Werkself were able to collect their runners-up medals after the 4-2 defeat and then returned to the team hotel to see out the evening. On Sunday morning, Bayer 04 set off on the return journey to Leverkusen and the players started a well-deserved two-week break.
Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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They're well on their way to becoming German champions for the 35th time and once again proved their incredible class in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. This Saturday, 14 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayern Munich will be the visitors to the BayArena. It'll be a meeting of the two Bundesliga teams with the most dominant styles of play. A look at our opponents shows the visitors from the Bavarian capital have many strengths - but are also vulnerable.
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