After last Thursday’s first-leg draw in Baku, Qarabag were back in domestic action at the weekend. Given the fact that the defending champions of Azerbaijan were 23 points clear at the top with 11 games to go, Gurbanov was able to fully rotate his team to take on fourth-placed Zira on Sunday.
It meant that nobody who’d started the Leverkusen game three days earlier was named in the side that began the league encounter. Elvin Jafarguliyev and Julio Romao, who had been suspended in Europe, did start, though. They are both available again for the trip to the BayArena. Patrick and Leandro Andrade were introduced in the second half. Otherwise, Qarabag were able to rest their entire defence and attackers before travelling to Germany.
Gurbanov had already started the fighting talk after the first leg: “Lots of people said before the game that Leverkusen are good, the gap between the two teams is big, and that defeat wouldn’t be a disgrace. But I believed that we would play well. I’ll prepare the team to play even better in Germany. Our opponents won’t be able to relax.”
His key players were certainly able to relax in the league at the weekend. Juninho, who scored the second goal against the Werkself but also went off injured late on, wasn’t in the squad for the 3-1 win over Zira. The Brazilian remains a doubt for Thursday’s return leg. “Things look better than first feared,” said Gurbanov. “We hope he can at least be on the bench.”
Qarabag also have more options in defence now after Colombian Kevin Medina returned to action against Zira after a long spell out injured. The Azerbaijani champions come to the BayArena well rested, with a fit squad – apart from the uncertain Juninho – and certainly full of confidence after their efforts in the first leg. They will prove a tough nut to crack for Bayer 04 to reach the quarter-finals.
Following the Bundesliga clash against RB Leipzig (Sunday, 20 September, 15:30 CEST), some of the Werkself first team players will be heading off for the first international break of the season. Here is an overview of the Bayer 04 players called up for their national teams and all the details of their upcoming matches.
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A special visit to the BayArena: 222 members from volunteer fire brigades in Leverkusen, the Rheinisch-Bergisch district and the Oberbergisch district watched the Werkself’s 2–0 home win over Slovenian champions NK Celje live in the stadium. Bayer 04 had invited them to the 2026/27 Europa League opener as a thank-you for their tremendous dedication. They watched the match together in Block F4.
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The Bayer 04 U19s have extended their winning run with a fifth consecutive victory on Matchday 5 of the DFB Youth League’s preliminary round. Coach Patrick Greveraars’ side secured a 3–2 (2–1) win in their match against second-placed FC Viktoria Köln, with Burak Kir and Nebe Domnic scoring for the hosts in the first half before captain Ben Hawighorst found the net after the break.
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without defender Guéla Doué for the time being. The Ivory Coast international sustained a muscle injury to his right calf during the final Werkself training session yesterday ahead of the Europa League clash with Slovenian champions NK Celje.
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Two home matches on Saturday afternoons and three long away trips: the German Football Association (DFB) has finalised the fixtures for a further five matchdays in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. This means all of the Bayer 04 Women’s team league fixtures are now confirmed up to the end of November.
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