
The big question of "Ronaldo or Messi?" came straight away at the beginning. However, Mukiele and Lomb quickly agreed on the Argentinian. There were gasps around the room when Mukiele talked about playing with another famous star at Paris Saint-Germain: Kylian Mbappé (now at Real Madrid). Which left the question: "Mbappé or Haaland?“ The Frenchman obviously went for his compatriot.
The pair also revealed who their idols are. For Mukiele, as a defender there was no one better than Sergio Ramos, while Lomb named Manuel Neuer. But on the follow-up question of "Hradecky or Neuer?", the 31-year-old remained faithful to his goalkeeping colleague and Werkself captain Lukas Hradecky.





Talking of team-mates, the curious children were also interested to know which players in the squad the pair get on with best. Lomb answered diplomatically: "The nice thing about is is that we're very harmonious as a team and all get on well with each other. But I spend the most time with Rob [Andrich] and Jonas [Hofmann]." For Mukiele, Jerry [Frimpong] is his closest confidant and also works hard as the DJ in the dressing room, as the 26-year-old revealed.
DJ, footballer... steward: if Mukiele hadn't become a professional footballer, that would've been his dream career, he explained: "I like flying and I like learning lots of new languages, so I can imagine that I would've done that."





In the autograph round that followed, no wish was left unfulfilled. Selfies were taken, shirts and boots signed, and one or two extra questions were answered. Mukiele, for example, spoke to the kids about his hobbies and revealed that he regularly speaks to his mother on the telephone.
A budding young goalkeeper even got some tips from Lomb on positioning. After around an hour, it was onto the next engagement for the Werkself duo. For the kids of the Bayer 04 Football School, there was still a stadium tour, including a viewing of the trophies from the double season, on the schedule.

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 as he worked 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 personalised 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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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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