Road to #B04RLIN: Fans provide guard of honour

Farewell guard of honour

It was an emotional high point of this DFB Cup week! Early in the morning, around 1,000 Werkself supporters assembled on Bismarckstraße to see their team off ahead of the cup tie to be played behind closed doors and to send them on their way with their best wishes and motivational support. The fans formed a guard of honour along the edge of the street as the bus with the Werkself on board set off for Cologne/Bonn Airport around 09.45 CET. The charter flight departed at 11.00 CET and landed at Berlin-Tegel Airport just after midday. After the transfer to the team hotel and a communal lunch, Peter Bosz and Lars Bender attended the pre-match press conference; the final pre-match training session will be held at the Olympic Stadium this evening.

"Leverkusen is backing you"

During the night, the road surface on Bismarckstraße in front of the BayArena was sprayed with a message in large red letters that red "Leverkusen is backing you". After the rain shower had passed over, the road was blocked off late at night and a start made on the work in hand. The spray painting lasted until dawn. And the results are well worth a look!

Paulinho in Innsbruck

While the Werkself set off for Berlin, Paulinho was already in the Austrian city of Innsbruck. The 19-year-old underwent an operation on the torn cruciate that he suffered in training on Tuesday. "Everything went well with the op," announced Peter Bosz at the pre-match press conference ahead of the final. The whole team gathered at the BayArena on Thursday to record a video message for the Brazilian – click HERE to see the video.

‘19:04 – Die Show’

“Cold, triumph, whistles and euphoria" – those are 04 words that the honorary captain and club legend Rüdiger Vollborn thinks of first on '19:04 – Die Show’ when he thinks back to winning the cup in 1993 (at 19:04 on YouTube and Facebook). "It's unavoidable going into a game like that with different feelings. That's why they'll be a little bit more suspense than normal for the Werkself. But that's good – suspense creates better concentration," said the former Bayer 04 keeper. And from one goalkeeper to another, he hopes, "that Lukas has a brilliant day and makes one or two saves. Because you need a good day to beat Bayern plus a bit of luck and, of course, a great goalkeeper." We will also show in the current edition the final part of the series "Road to #B04RLIN" the goals from the semi-final against FC Saarbrücken, we've recorded great pictures of the guard of honour for you and asked the Werkself what words they have for the fans before the final. Tune in!

Bosz could continue Dutch tradition

A good omen: Head coach Peter Bosz could continue a Dutch tradition in Saturday's final of the DFB Cup. All three of his fellow countrymen who have coached in Germany have won their finals: Rinus Michels in 1983 with FC Köln, Huub Stevens with Schalke 04 in 2011 and 2002 and Louis van Gaal with Bayern Munich in 2010. "Those coaches are big names in Holland. It would be great if my name would join them after Saturday," said Bosz with a smile at the pre-match press conference.

Cup final remains in Berlin

After the cup is before the cup. Even though the current cup campaign is not yet complete, the German Football Association (DFB) is already planning for the future. As DFB president Fritz Keller announced on Friday, the Olympic Stadium in Berlin will be the venue for the DFB Cup final until at least 2025. The competition has been called the DFB Cup since 1952 and the final has been played every year in Berlin since 1985. "This final is magic for me. And the rallying cry of 'Berlin, Berlin, we're going to Berlin' has become such a trademark that we need to stick to it in the interests of German football," declared DFB general secretary Friedrich Curtius.