The cup tie in Leverkusen a day before Christmas Eve represents the end of an unusual year of competitive football for the Red and Blacks. One curious fact: While the Werkself have played the Eagles 70 times in the league, this is only the second meeting in the DFB Cup. All Bayer 04 supporters will remember the first: Eintracht and Bayer 04 faced each other at the semi-final stage in 1993. In what was considered to be the supposed final, the Werkself won 3-0 with goals from Andreas Thom (2) and Ulf Kirsten. Bayer 04 went on to win the DFB Cup for the first time against the Hertha Berlin Reserves with Kirsten scoring the only goal of the game.
The two Bundesliga games ahead of the cup tie against Eintracht also promise to be entertaining encounters: On Wednesday 16 December (kick-off: 20.30 CET) Bayer 04 are away to Rhine rivals FC Köln. And Bayern Munich visit the BayArena on the weekend of 19/20 December.
After a few days of a well-earned 'winter break', the opponents for the Werkself are again Eintracht Frankfurt – albeit in another competition. The team under head coach Peter Bosz are away to Eintracht on Bundesliga matchday 14 on the first weekend of 2021 (2/3 January) .
The Werkself need a win in their penultimate match of the season at RB Leipzig on Monday evening (18:00 CEST) to keep their hopes of third place alive until the final day. After Eintracht Frankfurt lost on Saturday, Roberto Pätzold's side can close the gap on their rivals to two points and leave it all to play for next Sunday.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-3 loss at VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 33 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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Down to fifth from fourth place despite taking an early lead: in the head-to-head for a Champions League spot, Bayer 04 were 1-0 up at VfB Stuttgart with just a minute played thanks to an Aleix Garcia strike, but ultimately lost 3-1 (2-1) to the more determined hosts. It meant the Swabians leapfrogged the Werkself in the Bundesliga table on the penultimate matchday.
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Today sees Bayer 04 go head-to-head with their next direct rivals in the race for Champions League qualification (kick-off 15:30 CEST). Opponents Stuttgart are currently fifth in the table, level on points with the Werkself but one place below them due to a three-goal inferior goal difference. The Black and Reds' record at Bad Cannstatt tells a clearer story: they've not lost at VfB for over 16 years. One important factor in securing what would be three crucial points away from home is Leverkusen's strength on the counter-attack. Whilst Stuttgart are also extremely dangerous going forward, they will be without their captain. Today’s matchday news.
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