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“The feeling and mood within the team are good and all of us are really looking forward to the final,” said Xabi Alonso on Wednesday afternoon. “After winning the league, we can achieve great success in the Europa League and then the DFB Pokal as well.”
The opponents in the final, Atalanta, are fifth in the table in Serie A and on course for a Champions League finish also thanks to current impressive form with 13 points gained in the last five league games. Like the Werkself, the North Italian side are in the final of the Italian cup competition with Juventus providing the opposition tonight in the Coppa Italia. In the Europa League, they have knocked out Sporting CF, Liverpool and Olympique Marseille. “Atalanta are currently one of the toughest opponents in Europe,” said Alonso.
The 42-year-old Spaniard shared words of praise for his fellow coach Gian Piero Gasperini. The 66-year-old Italian has coached Atalanta since the summer of 2016. Alonso: “He has a clear plan and built up a team with strong mentality and high quality in depth. They are a top team. We’ll have a chance if we produce our best form. It will be a great final, very tight and interesting for the fans.”
While Alonso won nearly every competition in his time as a player, winning the Europa League remains to be achieved. He can now make that up as a head coach. Asked about that, the title-winning Leverkusen coach declared: “My trophies as a player are in the past. Now it’s time to win titles as a coach.”.
The fact this season has turned out to be such a great success was something Alonso did not foresee last summer. “We have a clear target of qualifying for the Champions League. On top of that, we wanted to play good and attractive football. Winning the Bundesliga and being in two finals was not necessarily realistic in August. But after two or three games we saw early on what was possible and that we could achieve something exceptional”
One factor in the success, named by Alonso, is day-to-day work plus open communication between the players and the coaching staff. “We learn from each other every day and I’ve learned a lot as a coach in the time up to now. We have done very well so far even though there have been a couple of mistakes of course. Now we will focus fully on the last Bundesliga game and prepare for the two finals.”
Bayer 04 are away to Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb on Matchday 5 of the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League. The game kicks off on Thursday 26 November at 18:45 CET at the Maksimir Stadium. All the information on ticket sales.
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It wasn’t just on the pitch that there was cause for celebration around the Werkself’s 2–1 home win against SC Freiburg. Plenty of happy faces could be seen near the dugouts at half-time too. Once again, CEO Fernando Carro, alongside former striker and club ambassador Stefan Kießling, paid tribute to eight supporters’ clubs celebrating up to their 30th anniversary on behalf of Bayer 04.
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It was a match that will live long in the memory of everyone involved: The Bayer 04 U19s celebrated their seventh win in seven matches in the DFB Youth League preliminary round – and yet it was a very special victory indeed: in the 4–3 (1–1) win at VfL Bochum 1848, no fewer than five goals came in the final quarter of an hour. As the 90th minute approached, coach Patrick Greveraars’s side found themselves behind, but then fought back in true ‘Laterkusen’ style.
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Under Carles Martínez, the Werkself have so far proved unbeatable at the BayArena. The Spaniard has led his team to victory in all three of their most recent home matches – and, it's worth noting, without conceding a single goal. On Sunday, 18 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST / live on DAZN and Werkself Radio), current league leaders SC Freiburg will make the trip to Leverkusen, but will be without their top scorer. What's more, the Werkself have won all three of their previous home matches against the Black Forest club. With a goal, Patrik Schick could not only secure a fourth consecutive victory but also set a memorable record. Meanwhile, on what will be the ‘Health Day' at the BayArena, much of the focus will be on physical wellbeing. Today's matchday news.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 7 of the 2026/27 Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga.
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