The objective in showdown four is clear: After two rather disappointing outings, the aim now is to build on the strong performance in the first showdown, which Bayer 04 won. As one of the 16 teams with the most points out of 35 teams in the online preliminary round, the Black and Reds are looking to go through to the offline knockout round to be played in Berlin on 2 February where they will fight for victory in the showdown and further important points for the overall table. The points from all online preliminary rounds (3 per win) and offline rounds (2 per win) of the five showdowns will be added together in this table, which will decide who advances to the final round of the German Club Championship next year.
The first match was against VfB Stuttgart. When Sean 'SEAN_LDW07' Landwehr lost 3-2 to Denis ‘DENIS’ Müller in the first duel, the match appeared to have got off to a false start. But that was the only defeat on the night! Against Dylan ‘DULLENMIKE’ Neuhausen, Marc 'MARC_LDW23' Landwehr stayed calm and collected as he produced a goal fest. In the end, he secured victory in match number one with an 8-3 scoreline and the first three points in 2026.
The duels against Hannover 96 continued, with Sean Landwehr and Djamal ‘DJAMALJNR’ Golla playing out a close game that gradually turned in Bayer 04's favour. After being level at 1-1, Sean took a 5-2 lead. Two more goals from Hannover made it exciting again, but the 5-4 win was good enough for Sean in the end. Marc Landwehr then followed up by beating Mustafa ‘XMUSTI19’ Cankal 7-0 - with everything from fantastic free-kick goals and long-range strikes to impressive counter-attacking goals as a result of quick transitions.
The perfect start to the new year and showdown four still needed a win against FC Augsburg - and the Landwehr cousins secured it in a commanding fashion. Sean Landwehr took a 3-0 lead against Yannic ‘YANNIC0109’ Bederke. The Leverkusen player responded to two Augsburg goals by scoring two more - in the end it was 5-2. Marc, who was in outstanding form, then gave Niklas ‘NIKLASRANK’ Rank no chance as he delivered the next resounding victory. The score was 7-1, with the Leverkusen player again impressing with a composed performance and impressive strtikes. Leverkusen made a perfect start by picking up nine points. They are currently second in the Showdown Four table and seventh in the overall table.
Showdown four results:
Showdown 4 (online preliminary round) - Game 1
VfB Stuttgart (L) vs Bayer 04 (W)
‘DENIS’ 3-2 ‘SEAN_LDW07’
‘DULLENMIKE’ 3-8 ‘MARC_LDW23’
Result: 6:10
Showdown 4 (online preliminary round) - Game 2
Hannover 96 (L) vs Bayer 04 (W)
‘DJAMALJNR’ 4-5 ‘SEAN_LDW07’
‘XMUSTI19’ 0-7 ‘MARC_LDW23’
Result: 4:12
Showdown 4 (online preliminary round) - Game 3
FC Augsburg (L) vs Bayer 04 (W)
‘YANNIC0109’ 2-5 ‘SEAN_LDW07’
‘NIKLASRANK’ 1-7 ‘MARC_LDW23’
Result: 3:12
The #B04eSports players are next in action with the final three matches of the preliminary round. They face FC Kaiserslautern, RB Leipzig and SC Freiburg. The current German club champions and Showdown Three winners await the Landwehr cousins in Leipzig, following on from some memorable moments against the team from Saxony last year. More on this in the lowdown on our next opponents on Tuesday.
The matchday kicks off at 18:00 CET and the games will be broadcast live as usual on the Leverkusen Twitch channel and on the Bayer 04 app.
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“As far as mentality and determination are concerned, we have nothing to reproach ourselves for,” Robert Andrich said up after the first home defeat for the Werkself this term. In terms of their play, too, the Black and Reds put in a respectable performance for long stretches of this intense and physical match, outperforming VfB Stuttgart in most areas. It was only in terms of efficiency in front of goal that the Swabians had the edge over the Werkself. Head coach Carles Martínez wants to learn from this so that, in future, they can “win this sort of match too”. The Werkself review.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career working as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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