A "rough ride and an emotional rollercoaster," was the view of the Bayer 04 head coach Gerardo Seoane. The Werkself took an early lead on 11 minutes with a placed shot from the edge of the box by Charles Aránguiz. Atalanta turned the game round in the first half within two minutes with goals from Ruslan Malinovskyi and Luis Muriel. The Colombia international doubled his tally after the restart to put his team 3-1 up. Bayer 04 had goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky to thank that the deficit was not bigger. The Moussa Diaby goal to make it 3-2 rounded off a highly intense match.
Following the exhausting match against the Werkself, the Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini rotated his team last weekend in a 0-0 draw with Genoa in the league. The coach made six changes to his starting line-up. Marco Sportiello made his second league appearance of the season in goal in place of the number one Juan Musso. Giorgio Scalvini and José Luis Palomino came into central defence for Rafael Tolói and Mehri Demiral. Joakim Maehle, Matteo Pessina and Mario Pasalic started in midfield with the Dutch players Marten de Roon and Hans Hateboer plus the Swiss Remo Freuler on the subs bench.
Luis Muriel had the best chance in the first half in a tough game against the side next to bottom in Serie A but he hit the post. In the second half, Pasalic put a shot over the bar from a promising position after impressive work from Teun Koopmeiners. Otherwise, Atalanta were disappointing in front of their own crowd for much of the game. "It's a fair result," said coach Gasperini after the game. "Perhaps we had one more chances than our opponents but they succeeded in disrupting our game and keeping us busy. It was a hard-fought game with lots of battling but little flow. Genoa make life difficult for every opponent." The coach was particularly happy with the development of his midfield player Teun Koopmeiners: "He's a very strong and complete player, has good ball control, good physique and a good passing game."
The one point against Genoa does not really help 'La Dea' in the race for a Champions League spot. They are currently eight points behind Juventus in fourth place albeit with Atalanta having a game in hand.
Gasperini will again rotate in several positions for Thursday night's match at Leverkusen. Musso will be back in goal, captain Tolói in defence and regular starters like de Roon und Freulerback in the midfield. Malinovskyi and Muriel are established up front with Duvan Zapata and Josip Ilicic still sidelined.
"It's all to play for in the second leg and it will be a tight game," said Bayer 04 coach Gerardo Seoane after the game in Bergamo. The Werkself have to win and that will not be an easy task even at home against the team from Lombardy who have the third best away record in Serie A. The away goals rule no longer applies this season. A 1-0 or 2-1 win for the Werkself would lead to extra time.
Bayer 04 have agreed a loan move for U19s striker Ken Izekor to join Bundesliga 2 club Eintracht Braunschweig on loan for the rest of the 2025/26 season.
Show more
Bayer 04 have agreed a loan deal for Jeanuel Belocian to join fellow Bundesliga club Wolfsburg on loan until the end of the season. The 20-year-old defender’s contract in Leverkusen runs until 30 June 2029.
Show more
After Leverkusen's eSports team spectacularly won the first showdown in the history of the VBL Club Championship last year, two rather sobering editions followed with two early exits. Now, in Showdown Four, cousins Marc and Sean Landwehr have once again made it into the offline knockout phase. And in this phase, Bochum awaits on Monday, 2 February (live on the VBL's Twitch channel from 16:00 CET). Here's a look at their opponents and what might happen next.
Show more
SAB-P GmbH is to become Bayer 04 Leverkusen's first official inclusion partner. The company, which has previously been involved in the club's Business Club, is underlining its social commitment to inclusion with an agreement that runs until 31 May 2027. Among other things, it will be the shirt sponsor of the Inclusion Team from the 2026/27 season onwards.
Show more
The Werkself were impressive in the 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt with clinical finishing and a first half "at a high level" that head coach Kasper Hjulmand draws a lot of positives from. The same should apply to Arthur, who scored for the first time in the Bundesliga. Edmond Tapsoba, for his part, was happy about his 250th appearance in a Bayer 04 jersey. "I think we're slowly finding our feet again," said goalscorer Malik Tillman, summing up the performance. The Werkself review.
Show more
