Ahead of the West clash, the primary aim for the Bayer 04 Women is to deal with the setback of last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Werder Bremen. “The effects of the game are still evident in our legs. I didn’t think we would have another game this season as difficult to get into as the one against Bremen,” admitted Achim Feifel, whose contract has been extended by three years this week. “We have to put everything into the final run-in that we can. The Bremen match was definitely not a walk in the park, quite the opposite: Teams threatened by relegation throw everything into the mix from mentality through to the will to win to stay in the league. We weren’t prepared for that in Bremen. We can expect the same against SV Meppen and SC Sand.” The coach wants to see “an appropriate reaction” to the recent defeat in Friday’s game against Essen.
Ahead of the clash, SGS Essen, in seventh place, are not too far behind the Werkself Women with a five-point deficit having played one game less. “Essen lost a lot of key players in the summer and they had to put a new team together but they have progressed well over the course of the season. They have young, hungry players who can counter attack quickly, a dangerous attack and a plan of how to play their games,” warned Feifel. “Therefore, I think it will be an open game.”
After a long injury lay-off, Sylwia Matysik will be able to make her comeback against Essen. There is a question mark over Henrietta Csiszár who returned from international duty with Hungary with an ankle problem. Definitely ruled out against SGS are Viktoria Pinther (back problem), Verena Wieder (knee), Lara Marti (calf) and Jessica Wich, who has suffered another knee injury.
For the third time in succession, the Bayer 04 Women’s home game on Friday will be broadcast live on Eurosport. The last two games ended in victory – “Perhaps, we have one or two players who might get a boost when the game is on TV. If that’s the case then hopefully it will work again on Friday,” said the Bayer 04 coach with a smile.
More on the game, the two squads, matchday information and an interview with Gianna Rackow are in the current Rasenreport. HERE is the e-paper.
Attacking midfielder Paulina Bartz is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen for good on a permanent move to Hamburger SV in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. The 21-year-old, who was on loan to the newly promoted side in the winter, originally had a contract to 2027.
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The Bayer 04 Football School opened in 2007 – now this successful programme is getting a new name and a new logo: with immediate effect, the Bayer 04 Football School powered by BarmeniaGothaer is becoming the Bayer 04 Football Academy powered by BarmeniaGothaer.
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The sustainable use of the BayArena seats removed as part of the current stadium upgrade has taken on a new dimension: Following on from numerous Bayer 04 fans receiving their ‘Undefeated Champions seats’ and various clubs and community organisations from Leverkusen and the wider region having collected the dismantled seats, Blau-Gelbe Kreuz e.V. also made their way to the BayArena recently. The German-Ukrainian aid organisation took away around 2,100 seats; in Ukraine, these will be used to upgrade the sports infrastructure of two clubs.
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