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"April will be very important," declared Alonso at the pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon. "We are six points behind FC Bayern and there are still 24 points to play for. It won't be easy but the desire is definitely there. The clear target is to fight to the end. We want to apply as much pressure as possible. And tomorrow we have the first opportunity to close the gap. So we have to win."
The mood in the team is very good following the brilliant 4-3 victory at VfB Stuttgart on the last matchday: "We are in great shape. The comeback in Stuttgart was a big win. That helped us feel good again after a difficult week."
Alonso did sound a warning about the team led by head coach Dieter Hecking who is unbeaten in his last three Bundesliga games against the Werkself: "They are fighting with all their might to stay up and recently showed their strength not only against FC Bayern (3-2, ed.) but also against other big teams like Dortmund (2-0, ed.) and Leipzig (3-3, ed.)." The Spaniard added: "Our negative experience with the defeat against Bremen (0-2, ed.) is still fresh. We made a lot of mistakes in that game. We've learned our lesson from that."
The 43-year-old can call on all twelve players on duty in the international break: "They have all come back fit and well." Robert Andrich, Jonathan Tah, Alejandro Grimaldo, Aleix Garcia, Jeremie Frimpong and Lukas Hradecky returned to training with the team in Leverkusen on Wednesday.
Nathan Tella is not available for tomorrow’s game. For Martin Terrier, a return is realistic for the away fixture at FC Heidenheim (5 April). And Alonso also talked about Florian Wirtz with cautious optimism: "He feels better and perhaps he will be back sooner than expected."
The BayArena is sold out for the game on Friday night with 3,000 away fans travelling from Bochum. The motto for the matchday league wide is: ‘TOGETHER! STOP HATE. BE A TEAM.’
The second international break of the 2025/26 season will begin after the Bundesliga match against Union Berlin (Saturday, 4 October, 15:30 CEST). The latest information on call-ups.
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Alejo Sarco and Argentina won their second group match at the U20 World Cup in Chile on Wednesday night. They beat Australia 4-1 with Sarco setting the tone early with a goal in the third minute. As in the first group game against Cuba, where Sarco scored twice, the 19-year-old was also named "Player of the Match" against Australia.
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Second game, second draw in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26: The Werkself were held to a 1-1 draw by Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven on matchday two in the league phase. After an early but brief setback in the form of an offside goal by Ivan Perisic for the visitors (5'), the Werkself took control and created numerous good chances in the first half. Leverkusen took a deserved lead after the break in the 65th minute through Christian Kofane. However, PSV's Ismael Saibari replied a few minutes later to level at 1-1 (72').
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In the second match in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26, the Werkself host PSV Eindhoven this Wednesday evening, 1 October (kick-off: 21:00 CEST/live on DAZN and on Werkself Radio). PSV have injury problems but are in confident mood after winning two consecutive league titles. PSV coach Peter Bosz and keeper Matej Kovar are two familiar faces who have fond memories of their Bayer 04 days. The latest information on the UCL match at the BayArena can be found in out matchday news.
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Bayer 04 beat PSV Eindhoven 3-2 on matchday two to clock up the next three points in the UCL Youth League 2025/26. In front of just under 500 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, the visitors from the Netherlands led at half-time, but the Werkself turned the game round in the second 45. That makes it two wins on the bounce after the victory in Copenhagen.
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