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Xabi Alonso delivered the most important information from a Black and Red perspective right at the start of the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon: "Everybody has recovered well from the game, there are no injuries." His team secured a convincing 5-1 victory over Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday night. As usual, the ambitious Spaniard is now looking forward again: "The most important thing is for us to carry on in the same way. And that's what we want to do."
To maintain the focus each week primarily requires "consistency. We talk every day and give 100% every day. If you want to be successful then you can't afford to stand still."
The Werkself have only won one of the last five home games against SC Freiburg. "Freiburg are difficult to play against," said Alonso. The visitors from the Breisgau come to Leverkusen on the back of two wins in succession but will have to manage without Roland Sallai and Maximilian Philipp. The attacking duo at SCF were injured in the Europa League game against Backa Topola (3-1) on Thursday night.
Alonso has great respect for Freiburg's coach Christian Streich. The 41-year-old said regarding his fellow coach, who has been in charge at Freiburg since 2012: "We had a bit of a chat after the game in Freiburg last year. I can learn a thing or two from coaches like him."
The Werkself go into matchday eight as league leaders. Bayer 04 have won all games with the exception of the 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich. The situation at the top of the table is tight despite that. Only two points separate first and fourth spots. "It's great for the league that it's so exciting," said Alonso in response to a question. "Stuttgart are playing brilliantly and have a clear approach, Bayern are always there. Of course, there’s also Dortmund and Leipzig as well as Hoffenheim who are doing well behind them."
In recent days and weeks, a lot of events have been organised for the first district matchday at the weekend involving people from the Leverkusen district of Opladen. An early get-together at the Zwieback bar in Opladen on Sunday from eleven in the morning should provide the perfect start to a hopefully successful day of football at the BayArena.
The club will be present in different areas of Leverkusen over the coming months as part of the new Bayer 04 campaign of district matchdays. The game against Freiburg is one of six of these special matchdays this season
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.
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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.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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