After rousing applause to greet Kerem Demirbay, his call for "Ask me whatever you want" drew an immediate response. Nearly every young football player in the room raised their arms. The midfielder provided detailed answers to the questions from the children for over half an hour.
The youngsters discovered that Demirbay’s relationship with head coach Xabi Alonso is "very good" and that he gets on best with Nadiem Amiri, Karim Bellarabi and Jonathan Tah in the Werkself squad. The 29-year-old was also asked about his goal celebration and Demirbay explained his personal ritual step-by-step.
The father of two clearly enjoyed answering the children's questions and afterwards he made himself available for an autograph session. The signature of the Bayer 04 player now adorns shirts, autograph cards, drinks bottles and socks belonging to the young football players. The perfect way to finish was a group photo with all the participants.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
Show more
Bayer 04 face Hamburger SV for the first time in almost eight years. Although the Hanseatic city team are often below par on the road, they are regularly in top form in front of their own fans. In particular, 18-year-old shooting star Luka Vuskovic is proving to be a real bonus for Merlin Polzin's team, both in attack and defence. However, that should not scare the Werkself: Not only was the last defeat against the newly promoted team 17 games ago, but Kasper Hjulmand's players are in with a chance of securing their fifth win in six games against HSV. Today’s matchday news.
Show more
Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 meet again in the Bundesliga for the first time in almost eight years. This Tuesday evening, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET), the promoted team with impressive home form welcome the Werkself to the Volksparkstadion to round off the Hinrunde. The lowdown on our next opponents.
Show more
The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
Show more
