“Despite losing, we were a worthy opponent for the majority of the game, made life very tough for Bayern and didn’t look overawed by the big crowd. For large parts of the game we did exactly what we wanted to do,” said Roberto Pätzold looking back on the 2-0 loss to champions Bayern Munich in front of over 57,000 spectators. “We can be proud of how evenly we contested the match. We were ultimately undone by not taking our chances and sort of running out of steam towards the end.”
The 46-year-old coach added that he has a clear expectation of his team when it comes to facing ambitious promoted side Union: “We want to be dominant in our first outing at home, and obviously not end up empty-handed this time. If we manage to play the way we did against Bayern for 90 minutes, any team will struggle against us.”
However, Bayer 04’s opponents to close out Matchday 2 are “not a normal promoted team”. Union have enjoyed a rapid rise, with back-to-back promotions and winning the Bundesliga 2 title last season. “They’ve strengthened with a lot of quality from the Bundesliga. We expect them to come here full of confidence,” Pätzold explained of the Berliners, who invested heavily in their squad with the signings like Sophie Weidauer from Werder Bremen and Eintracht Frankfurt duo Tanja Pawollek and Anna Aehling. Union drew their Bundesliga debut 1-1 against Nürnberg in front of a crowd of 11,000 at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
Union are one of three promoted clubs this season, joining Hamburg and the aforementioned Nürnberg in the newly expanded 14-team Bundesliga. All three come with huge support and play their home games in their main bigger stadium, with Pätzold now expecting a “more evenly balanced league”. He’s also pleased that Berlin now has a top-flight team, given “the capital has long been missing from the women’s football map in Germany”.
Leverkusen remain without Selina Ostermeier, Amy Wrigge (both muscular), Caroline Kehrer (fitness training) and long-term absentee Shen Menglu (cruciate ligament). Whether Loreen Bender will return after missing the Bayern game is up in the air.
The Bundesliga has announced the nominees for the ‘Top Goal of the Month’ award for October. Fans of the Werkself can now vote for, amongst others, Robert Andrich’s stunning volley from the match against Mainz 05 or Moussa Diaby’s curling shot into the top corner from the same fixture. Voting, exclusively on the Bundesliga app, remains open until Sunday, 8 November (23:59 CET).
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Bayer 04 host Borussia Mönchengladbach at the BayArena on matchday 12 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season. The schedule for the game remains to be confirmed. The latest information on ticket sales.
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Bayer 04 host Eintracht Frankfurt at the BayArena on matchday 14 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season. The schedule for the game remains to be confirmed. The latest information on ticket sales.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 0-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of the women's DFB-Pokal 2026/27
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“As far as mentality and determination are concerned, we have nothing to reproach ourselves for,” Robert Andrich said up after the first home defeat for the Werkself this term. In terms of their play, too, the Black and Reds put in a respectable performance for long stretches of this intense and physical match, outperforming VfB Stuttgart in most areas. It was only in terms of efficiency in front of goal that the Swabians had the edge over the Werkself. Head coach Carles Martínez wants to learn from this so that, in future, they can “win this sort of match too”. The Werkself review.
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