Bayer 04 have never previously played a team from Azerbaijan. The last time the Black and Reds faced a club on the European stage from a previously unknown country was in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League in 2015/16 when the Werkself beat BATE Borisov 4-1 at home.
While it is the first time for Leverkusen to meet an Azerbaijani club, Qarabag have played German teams six times. The side from the Caspian Sea lost five of those six matches and the last outing was a 1-1 draw against SC Freiburg in last season's group stage.
Top of the table in the national league, no points dropped in the Europa League: The Werkself face a tough opponent. Qarabag are currently leading the Premyer Liqasi, the Azerbaijani top-flight, with 20 points from ten games. Two wins in the first group matches in the Europa League puts the current champions of Azerbaijan second in Group H behind the Werkself.
Qarabag are particularly impressive in defence: They are one of only three teams yet to concede in the current Europa League campaign and they have the second best defence in their domestic league. The lowdown on our next opponents.
Anyone wanting to read key information before the game should take a look at the new Werkself Live. The matchday programme, offering the most important facts and stats on the game in compact form, is available at the BayArena. Alternatively it is available free online. Click HERE for the e-paper.
UEFA has appointed the Romanian referee Horatiu Fesnic as the match official in charge of the game against Qarabag. The 34-year-old will be assisted by his fellow countrymen Valentin Avram and Alexandru Cerei on the touchlines with the Portuguese referee Tiago Martins is in action as the VAR.
As usual, Werkself Radio is available for anybody unable to be at today's game. The audio broadcast begins 30 minutes before kick-off with commentary provided by Niko Hartmann and Cedric Pick. In addition, the live text update service will keep you up-to-date to ensure you don't miss any of the key match action. Both Werkself Radio and the live text update service are available at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app.
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 as he worked 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 personalised 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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