Bayer 04 have declared a Shirt Day for Friday. Wear black and red to show you are right behind the Werkself. Whether it's at work, shopping, playing sport or at home: Everybody should wear Black and Red! On that subject: The Werkself, as against Mainz on the final Bundesliga matchday, will be playing in the new 2020/21 home kit. The highlight is the DFB Cup badge on the chest. The new home shirt is available HERE and from the Bayer 04 fan shops.
Shortly after landing in Berlin, our sporting managing director has a meeting at the Bild Zeitung on Friday. Rudi Völler is the guest on a 30-minute talk show 'Reif ist live' with the football pundit and host of the programme Marcel Reif and presenter Matthias Brügemann to talk about the final. The live broadcast is available on bild.de from 13.00 CET.
Another programme announcement: On Friday morning, the ZDF show Morgenmagazin will include an interview with Peter Bosz from the BayArena. Anybody who does not want to wait so long or simply somebody who gets up early can see it as it is also available from Thursday night online on the ZDF website.
It's incredible how much support the Werkself are receiving from Leverkusen and its surroundings. Our city has turned black and red as we've already reported in recent days with the banner and flag campaigns. Now, more and more cars can be seen on the streets in the morning with Bayer 04 flags; the bus stops and numerous advertising spaces are decorated for the final. The Schwadbus is also driving round the different parts of the city of Leverkusen – and the popular vintage vehicle is available for photos. Here are a few images:
With all the euphoria and anticipation ahead of Saturday’s game at the Olympic Stadium – the fans will obviously be incredibly missed! It is actually the first time a DFB Cup final has been played behind closed doors. The lowest attendance at a cup final was in 1960/61 when 18,000 fans saw Werder Bremen beat FC Kaiserslautern 2-0 at the then Schalke ground of the ‘Glückauf-Kampfbahn’. Even during the Second World War, that saw five finals, there were never less than 45,000 fans. There will be some atmosphere at the 75,000-capacity stadium with a new lighting concept. This involves a full colour LED floodlight system that has been built at a stadium for the first time worldwide. And even if the usual events have had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus measures: The confetti cannon will be fired at the end and tinsel showered over the winning team.
On ‘19:04 – Die Show’ (19:04 CET, on YouTube and Facebook) the former Bayer 04 player and 1993 cup winner, Christian Wörns, will be revelling in memories: "When you win a title you only have positive memories of the whole thing. I was still very young in the final – I wasn't that grounded back then and had incredible stage fright. There was a huge amount of pressure because we were the favourites and definitely wanted to win." In addition, we will be asking the Werkself what a perfect final looks like for the players, taking a look back at the quarter-final against Union Berlin in the series 'Road to #B04RLIN' and we will bring celebrity greetings to the team – from René Adler through Julius Brink to Vanessa Mai.
Peter Bosz and his players fly out to Berlin on Friday – the team bus with all the necessary equipment on board set off on Thursday and will pick up the Werkself from the airport and take them to the hotel and then the stadium. The pre-match press conference with the head coach will be held at the Olympic Stadium and will be followed by the final pre-match training at the venue.
Previous results are clearly in favour of the titleholders Bayern Munich: Bayern have won 55 of 90 games and the Werkself have come out on top 19 times. But the Werkself have proved it is possible to get a result against Bayern this term with a 2-1 win in the league match in Munich. In the DFB Cup, Bayer 04 have only won once in five meetings with a 4-2 victory at the quarter-final stage in 2009. Tranquillo Barnetta, Arturo Vidal, Patrick Helmes and Stefan Kießling scored to knock the record champions out of the competition and go on to play in the final. The two clubs now meet for the first time in the DFB Cup final.
A cracker of a semi-final at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The Bayer 04 U19 team entertain Bayern Munich on Saturday, 10 May (kick-off: 11:00 CEST/stadium opens: 10:00 CEST). In front of a home crowd, the team led by head coach Sergi Runge, who welcomes back an attacking player, is looking to build on the battling performances from the previous knockout games and "perform at the right moment." Tickets are available from the Bayer 04 online shop and the game will also be broadcast live on Sky.
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Germany U17 head coach Marc Meister has called up three Bayer 04 youth players for the forthcoming UEFA U17 European Championship. The tournament involving eight teams runs from 19 May to 1 June in Albania.
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"We have mixed feelings overall today," said head coach Xabi Alonso after the 2-2 draw away to SC Freiburg. Bayer 04 were deservedly 2-0 down against the Champions League contenders up to the closing minutes but fought back with a double whammy from Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah to earn a point in the end. That maintains the run of unbeaten away games in the Bundesliga – the all-time record has been achieved! The Werkself review.
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Bayer 04 have now gone 33 Bundesliga away games in succession without defeat and thereby equalled the record set by Bayern Munich: Jonathan Tah netted the equaliser at 2-2 in added time away to SC Freiburg on his 400th appearance for the Werkself. SCF took a 2-0 lead with a strike from Maximilian Eggestein (44') and a Piero Hincapie own goal (48') before Florian Wirtz pulled a goal back on 82 minutes.
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