Central defender Jonathan Tah was forthright at the pre-match press conference. The 25-year-old: “There’s no more ifs and maybes – we have to win and go through. That’s our clear target.”
To get there requires the team to be “focussed and aggressive” from the start. There should not be other initial phase as in the first leg: The Werkself were 2-0 down after 19 minutes and at half-time it was 3-0 to the hosts.
While Tah will again be in the line-up for the second game against Young Boys, Sven Bender is not in the squad. The experienced defender made his comeback on Sunday in the 1-1 draw at Augsburg after three months out due to injury and is set be gradually reintroduced with a busy period of fixtures coming up. Nadiem Amiri, who missed the game against FCA due to an infection, is fit again and could be an option against Young Boys. With the winger Karim Bellarabi (muscle injury), Bosz took a similar position, “we’ll see if he’s ready for the squad.”
Ahead of the knockout match at the BayArena, the Werkself head coach talked about the significance of the game against the Swiss club for Bayer 04. The 57-year-old: “The game is very important to us, we definitely want to go through to the next round. Our task is clear: to win.”
Match information:
Broadcasters: DAZN, RTL Nitro and Werks11 Radio
Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed Spanish left-back Miguel Gutiérrez from Napoli. The 25-year-old has signed a contract with the club to 30 June 2031. Gutiérrez came through the youth ranks at Real Madrid; he moved to Italy a year ago from Girona, and he played a key role for Napoli with 36 appearances. The big Italian club finished last season as runners-up in Serie A.
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The Werkself's training camp in Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog you'll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day three (Tuesday 4 August) begins with a thorough open session on the pitch. After lunch, some players have media engagements at the team hotel, and then the team come together for a barbecue in the evening.
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