Qarabag have made the almost 3,000-kilometre journey from Baku to Leverkusen. Due to the challenges of the journey, the Azerbaijani champions flew to Germany on Tuesday and held their final training session at the BayArena on Wednesday.
Second-half goals from Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick saw the Werkself come from 2-0 down in Baku last week. It was the first time this season that Leverkusen had trailed by two goals at half-time. Qarabag have managed to score at least two goals in each of their last five Europa League fixtures, but have also conceded in each of those. They are one of two teams alongside Sparta Prague to have both scored and let in at least 15 goals this European campaign, having netted 15 and shipped 16.
Bayer 04’s opponents were clearly full of confidence in the first leg and gained further momentum at the weekend as they extended their lead at the top of their league to 24 points with a 3-1 win at home to Zira. Coach Gurban Gurnabov changed his entire team for that game, also giving starts to Julio Romao and Elvin Jafarguliyev, who missed the first game through suspension. Both are available again in Leverkusen. There’s a doubt over the fitness of forward Juninho. The Brazilian was involved in both Qarabag goals in the reverse fixture but went off injured late on. He has travelled to Germany, though. Find out more about Qarabag in our opposition profile.
Engineering works mean that the S6 train is not running between Köln-Mülheim and Langenfeld in the nights between 13-15 March and 18-20 March. Today’s game is therefore affected, with rail-replacement buses running. Regional trains are not affected and will be running as usual.
UEFA have named Englishman Anthony Taylor as tonight’s referee. The 45-year-old has overseen two previous competitive fixtures involving the Werkself, producing one win and one loss. His assistants are compatriots Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn. Stuart Attwell is the VAR.
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…
Show more
Can the Bayer 04 U19s capitalise on their successful UEFA Youth League opener against FC Copenhagen (2-0) a fortnight ago? The Werkself host PSV Eindhoven at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Wednesday, 1 October (kick-off: 14:00 CEST/live stream on bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app) on matchday two in the league phase. Ahead of the clash with the top team from his native Netherlands, head coach Kevin Brok spoke about his own approach, the strengths of the opponents and the home game factor.
Show more
Bayer 04 host Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven on matchday 2 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League phase. Ahead of the game, Edmond Tapsoba spoke to Werkself TV about UCL nights at the BayArena, the reunion with his former Leverkusen coach Peter Bosz and what the defender and his team-mates have to be prepared for...
Show more
New season, new partnership: TKD is a partner in the Bayer 04 Business Club. The contract between the Bundesliga club and the company based in neighbouring Langenfeld, who specialise in mobile working for companies, runs to 30 June 2026.
Show more
The Werkself are away to FC Bayern Munich on matchday 9 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The game at the Allianz Arena is on Saturday, 1 November, with the kick-off at 18:30 CEST. Read on for information on ticket sales.
Show more
