Werkself host second-placed Wolfsburg three days after derby

The emotionally charged Bundesliga clash at 1. FC Köln on Thursday, in which Katharina Piljic salvaged a 2-2 draw for the Werkself with a 50-metre wonder goal in the 88th minute, is still fresh in the minds of the team. "We would've liked to have won, but we at least showed spirit, character and belief in ourselves to come from 2-0 down," said Pätzold. "It was a very physical game that took a lot out of us. With Sunday in mind, we also tried to strike a good balance between achieving a good result and managing minutes." Already on the following day, he "analysed a few situations" with the team but then "immediately switched the focus to Wolfsburg".

Pätzold: 'opportunities to go ahead with our style'

Compared to the hard-fought derby in Cologne, the coach is expecting "a completely different game", as he knows: "We're coming up against a team who are defined by ball retention and ball circulation, and who try to play their way out of pressure. That will again give us more opportunities to go ahead with our style of play." The She-Wolves, one of four teams along with Leverkusen who have 13 points from six matches so far, lost 3-1 at home to champions FC Bayern Munich last time out but did win their opening two Champions League games against Paris Saint-Germain (4-0) and Valerenga IF (2-1) either side of that.

"We have to go to our limits again in order to be able to hold our own," added Pätzold. "We showed we can do that in the 1-0 win in the home match last December. We've also proven this season against Bayern, Frankfurt and Hoffenheim that we don't need to shy away against the top teams in the league, but that we can be brave." His conclusion from that: "We can and will create chances, and we've already had very different kinds of matches in which we've been successful. Wolfsburg will certainly come here with respect and will want to take up the role of chasers after losing top spot to Bayern." The state of play is very reminiscent of that before the clash in Leverkusen almost a year ago, when Leverkusen leaped to the top of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga over night thanks to the three points. "We were up to the task then and we want to do that again."

Juliette Vidal (knee), who had to come off at half-time at Köln, is ruled out along with Amy Wrigge (fitness), Cornelia Kramer (muscular injury) and Shen Menglu (cruciate ligament). Sofie Zdebel is doubtful.