The Werkself in Gothenburg – latest updates

+++1 December, 09.04 CET+++

Good morning from Gothenburg. The night was short but the joy of winning the group  and going through to the Round of 16 continues. The press conference ahead of Sunday's Bundesliga match against Borussia Dortmund is over. The Bayer 04 group now head back home to Leverkusen an. At this point, we say goodbye and wish you a relaxing and another hopefully winning weekend.

+++30 November, 22.58 CET+++

Group winners! The Round of 16! Perhaps tonight’s game wasn’t the most attractive match but the Werkself did produce an extremely efficient and composed performance. After the final whistle, the 900 travelling fans and the Bayer 04 players all had a good reason to be happy. The match report is HERE.

+++30 November, 13.02 CET+++

The activation session is over. As usual, stretching to warm up was first on the agenda and then it moved on to duels in football tennis that is popular with all the Werkself players. The mood of the group was outstanding and there were some very acrobatic feats at the net. Now it’s off to a communal lunch - see you later!

+++30 November, 11.17 CET+++

Before we bring you images of the activation session for the Werkself players, we take a look at tonight's venue – and it has a great history.

As with the game in Azerbaijan against Qarabag, Bayer 04 will not play Häcken at their own stadium because it does not meet UEFA requirements. There are two grounds in Gothenburg – with almost identical names – that are available for European games: the bigger but older Ullevi with a capacity of 43,200 as well as the smaller Gamla Ullevi opened in 2009. 'Gamla' translated means old but that can obviously cause confusion as it is the newer stadium. The Werkself will play at the bigger and more historical Ullevi Stadium.

The stadium, opened in 1958, was a venue for two international tournaments staged in Sweden: the Ullevi Stadium was the venue for the World Cup semi-final between Germany and Sweden in 1958 that the hosts won 3-1. At Euro 1992 it was used for the final that saw Germany lose again as Denmark became the surprise champions of Europe with a 2-0 victory.

+++30 November, 09.30 CET+++

Good morning from snowy Gothenburg. Tonight's game against Häcken at the Ullevi Stadium kicks off at 21.00 CET and the Werkself are focusing on winning the group. Of course, we will take you with us on matchday and will report on the morning activation session and also provide information on the city, stadium and opponents.

+++29 November, 19.04 CET+++

The final official part of the day, the press conference, is over. There was great interest from the travelling German as well as the Swedish media at the stadium. In addition to personnel, the situation in the group and the prevailing conditions, Xabi Alonso's first visit to Gothenburg in 1995 also featured. Statements from the Werkself head coach and Nathan Tella can be found HERE.

+++29 November, 16.17 CET+++

Hej, Werkself! The team flight landed ten minutes ago on a - very snowy - Swedish runway. “Say goodbye to the sun for the next 48 hours,” was the jocular announcement from the pilot shortly before landing. It’s snowing and the thermometer reads minus eight - but circumstances like these make these tours #aCROSSeurope something special!

The majority of the Werkself squad are heading off to the team hotel, head coach Xabi Alonso and Nathan Tella are going straight to the Ullevi Stadium for the obligatory pre-match press conference. We will bring the key statements from the duo later.

+++29 November, 14.32 CET+++

Boarding is complete, the special team flight will take off at any moment. The flight time is one hour and 20 minutes. We will report back after landing in Sweden. See you later!

+++29 November, 13.08 CET+++

The squad for the Häcken game: Lukas Hradecky, Josip Stanisic, Piero Hincapie, Jonathan Tah, Odilon Kossounou, Jonas Hofmann, Robert Andrich, Edmond Tapsoba, Patrik Schick, Matej Kovar, Noah Mbamba, Nathan Tella, Alejandro Grimaldo, Amine Adli, Victor Boniface, Adam Hlozek, Exequiel Palacios, Jeremie Frimpong, Gustavo Puerta, Niklas Lomb, Granit Xhaka, Ayman Aourir.

+++29 November, 11.15 CET+++

The 15 minutes of open training for the Werkself at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium are over. In freezing temperatures, the 22 outfield players had the chance to get used to the minus temperatures in Sweden with energetic passing drills while the three goalkeepers worked together separately. Florian Wirtz was not on the pitch and he will not travel due to slight muscular problems – this is a precautionary measure.

+++29 November, 11.01 CET+++

Sporting managing director Simon Rolfes, who extended his contract to 2028 yesterday, spoke to the media at the training session. The 41 year-old: "Our aims are clear. We want to win the game and seal winning the group. That's how we'll play." On Patrik Schick, who will travel to Sweden, Rolfes said: "He’s doing well in training. We'll see how much time he can get on the pitch tomorrow."

+++29 November, 10.38 CET+++

The Werkself have achieved maximum points in the UEFA Europa League to date. Matchday one in Group H saw a 4-0 home win against Häcken, then there was a 2-1 victory over Norwegian champions Molde. That was followed by two wins against Qarabag (5-1, 1-0). That means Bayer 04 head the table without dropping a point and Qarabag and Molde are next in the group on six points each. Häcken have yet to get off the mark with no points so far.

+++29 November, 09.04 CET+++

The Werkself set off on the third European trip of the season: Bayer 04 head to Sweden this afternoon ahead of tomorrow's fifth group match in the UEFA Europa league against the Swedish Cup winners Häcken.