Any fans who want to support the Werkself Women at the BayArena on Tuesday evening can get tickets in advance online:
Tickets are also available in the Bayer 04 shops at the BayArena and in the city centre, costing between €3 and €10. The ticket office at the stadium will open on the day at 5.30pm.
“The women have earned the right to play on the BayArena stage after all these years,” said Bayer 04 CEO Fernando Carro of the change of stadium. Thomas Eichin, who oversees the women’s section, added: “It’s not about any sort of records but offering our women a platform in this important game so they can move further into the limelight.” You can read more about this temporary move into the BayArena HERE.
Coach de Pauw is looking forward to a special game. “We can feel a normal level of tension, but obviously everyone’s really up for playing in the big stadium,” said the Dutchman. His team got a first taste of their new surroundings with a training session inside the BayArena on Sunday. “There’s real excitement. The feeling inside the team is great. We couldn’t wish for better conditions. There will be more people there than for other games. That creates great motivation to show what we can do, and doing it in a knockout game like this,” the boss added.
The circumstances should in no way deter his players from their usual preparation for their opponents. “The focus is clearly on the sporting side of things. A lot of things will be the same as always. We have our normal dressing room and a familiar opponent,” said de Pauw, adding: “The pitch in the BayArena is fast, which benefits our attacking style of play and gives us additional opportunities.” The aim is to “get the people in the stadium behind us and give us an extra boost of energy”.
He expects a “combative” performance from Essen, who are two points and two places below Bayer 04 in eighth in the Google Pixel Bundesliga, similar to the 0-0 draw in the first meeting in the league this season. “The fact that things haven't gone quite so smoothly for them recently doesn't matter in the cup. It will be a meeting of equals, the difference between the two teams is manageable,” emphasised the 42-year-old. “It’ll be important for us to keep the ball better than in the 0-0 draw in the league and to play more cleverly through the lines.”
After 16 first-team players were away with their national teams during the international break, de Pauw had his full squad back together at the end of last week. “We had a few more days than usual after an international break when the league normally continues straight away. That certainly did us good,” he stated. The coach will have to do without Danish winger Cecilie Johansen, who is out due to illness, for the mission to reach the semi-finals. Janou Levels, on the other hand, will return to the squad for the first time since November after months of hip problems.
The draw for the semi-finals will be made immediately after the game, live on TV.
The first and so far only time the women had played a competitive match at the BayArena was in November 2009. The Werkself lost 2-0 to Duisburg in the DFB-Pokal round of 16 in front of around 3,000 spectators. Turid Knaak, who later joined Leverkusen, was on the pitch for the visitors that day and is looking forward to the women's second BayArena appearance more than 14 years later...
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