After a good start to the season with ten points from six games resulting in fifth place in the table, the Werkself Women are looking to continue in that vein at Essen and further secure the position in the top of the table. Essen have not made a good start to the new term. Last season’s cup finalists have only won two games so far with all the other matches ending in defeat.
“Essen have a young team that can play good football, they want to have a go, are dynamic and also try to play on the front foot against good opponents,” said Achim Feifel. SGS went through a period of transition in the summer with twelve players coming and going. Among the departures were the four Germany internationals Marina Hegering, Lea Schüller, Lena Oberdorf and Turid Knaak plus Nina Brüggemann who signed for Leverkusen in the summer after five years playing for Essen. SGS Essen have opted to sign younger players and now have the youngest squad in the league on average.
“Our opponents are difficult to predict,” added Feifel, who is expecting a game on equal terms, “so we primarily want to look after our own game. We have to show our strengths on the pitch as we did against Frankfurt.”
After the double fixture week, the coach allowed his players chance to recover their strength ahead of the last match before the international break. The intensity of the sessions was varied for the players with the heaviest workloads – players who have had less time on the pitch were given more to do. On Thursday, everybody – with the exception of long-term injuries plus Sylwia Matysik (muscular problem) – returned to full training.
Due to the high infection rate in the city of Essen, Sunday’s game will be played behind closed doors. That conforms to the coronavirus prevention order issued by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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