Before returning to competitive matches with the rearranged game at SC Freiburg on Sunday, 26 January (12.00 CET, Dreisamstadion), the Leverkusen Women are spending part of their winter break on the Iberian Peninsula. In addition to eight training sessions, there are two friendlies against Villarreal and second division Union Berlin with the squad returning to Leverkusen on Sunday.
The Werkself group set off from the BayArena by coach to Düsseldorf airport shortly after four in the morning. The flight to Alicante left at seven in the morning. Late in the morning, the team completed a coach transfer to the Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Hotel, their base for the next seven nights. The hotel has catered for many professional football teams for decades and has plenty of sporting options in addition to four grass pitches right next to the beach on the Costa del Azahar.
From the Bundesliga squad, Loreen Bender (recovery after tonsillitis operation), Juliette Vidal (broken nose in the friendly against Anderlecht), Vanessa Haim (back problems) and the long-term absentee Sofia Cava Marin (torn cruciate) did not travel to Spain. Goalkeeper Louisa Remien, Paula Schwartze, Jana Lindner and Kirkellis Lillemets (all from the Bayer 04 U20 team) have joined the squad. The newly signed midfielder Ruby Grant will join her new teammates on Monday afternoon.
After lunch and a short rest the Leverkusen Women made their way to the training ground in the afternoon a few minutes walk from the hotel. Pätzold let his team work on the ball for starters. That included a range of passing drills as well as possession and positional play with the session ending in a nine vs nine game.
The first friendly for the Bayer 04 Women in Oliva is on Tuesday, 14 January (12.00 CET) against Villarreal. A day before departure, the team fourth in the Bundesliga play second division Union Berlin, who have their training camp at the same base, on Saturday, 18 January (14.00 CET) with a 3×40 minutes match. The group fly back to Germany on Sunday morning. The complete winter timetable is HERE.
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Werder Bremen have started the new season with back-to-back defeats, first being eliminated from the DFB Pokal by Arminia Bielefeld and then losing at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. And with injuries compounding that form, things are tense ahead of their first home game against the Werkself on Saturday (kick-off: 3.30pm CEST). Here’s the lowdown on Werder.
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Bayer 04 new signing Lucas Vázquez has had some eventful days. The experienced right-back faced the media for the first time since arriving in Leverkusen on Tuesday and after completing his first sessions on the training ground. Vázquez talked about his motivation to sign for Leverkusen, his targets with the Werkself, the attraction of German football and about recommendations regarding Bayer 04 from Xabi Alonso, Toni Kroos and Dani Carvajal.
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