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.
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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen and sponsors club partner NRG24 are continuing their partnership, which has been in place since the summer of 2023. The Bundesliga football club and the energy consultancy firm have extended their successful partnership until 30 June 2027.
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