
U19 centre-back Andrea Natali was called up to the Italian U19 squad and joined up with his compatriots near Madrid. In a friendly against Spain on the final day of the camp, the Leverkusen youngster played the full match and more than held his own among team-mates who were mostly two years older. It finished 1-0 to the Spaniards.
No fewer than three players from the Bayer 04 academy were named in Marc Meister's German U17 squad. Ben Hawighorst, Jeremiah Mensah and Nebe Domnic took part in the first ten-day camp of the new year on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, where two friendlies against Portugal were also held.
Hawighorst and Domnic started in the first game and were brought off at half-time as planned after pleasing displays. At the start of the second period, Mensah came on and caught the eye in attack, converting a penalty in the subsequent shootout - which Portugal won - among other things.
Friendly number two began with all three Leverkusen boys in the starting line-up. Hawighorst was forced off with an injury during the first half, while Domnic and Mensah were replaced at the break.
Germany's U16 head coach André Pawlak also counted on Leverkusen personnel in his roster. Elia Datené and Ivan Massek travelled to the Spanish Mediterranean coast for 10 days and, like the U17s, took part in two friendlies against their Portuguese counterparts. The Bayer 04 pair came on at the restart in the first encounter, with Massek scoring the equaliser for 1-1. Both were on target in the concluding penalty shootout. The second friendly also ended in a draw after regular time (2-2), with Datené and Massek playing the first half.
Coming up in February are the U17 Algarve Cup in Portugal as well as an U16 UEFA development tournament.

The meeting between fifth and sixth on Saturday afternoon (17 January, 15:30 CET) is a hard one to predict. While the Werkself can take confidence from their historic record at TSG Hoffenheim, the hosts are currently enjoying their second-best Bundesliga campaign and have lost just one of their last 10 games. Another good omen for Bayer 04: Daniel Schlager also refereed Leverkusen's last victory in Sinsheim (4-1). The Matchday News.
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At the end of the winter training camp in Portugal, the Bayer 04 Women convincingly mastered their friendly ahead of the start of the second half of the season. In the match against Swiss league leaders Servette FCCF, coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 3-0 at the Monte Gordo Sports Complex. Carlotta Wamser (4’), Vanessa Fudalla (18’) and Loreen Bender (53’) scored for Bayer 04, who have been preparing for the Rückrunde in the Algarve since last Saturday.
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The German Football League (DFL) has rescheduled the postponed fixture at Hamburger SV on Bundesliga matchday 17. The match, due to be played on Tuesday, has now been rescheduled for Wednesday, 4 March (kick-off: 20:30 CET).
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The Rückrunde is about to begin: The Werkself travel to TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday, 17 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET) on Bundesliga matchday 18. At the pre-match press conference on Friday lunchtime, head coach Kasper Hjulmand emphasised the double anticipation for the clash following Tuesday's postponement of the fixture at Hamburger SV. And he also talked about the tactical approach against an opponent on course for Champions League qualification.
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TSG Hoffenheim have had a tremendous season so far and are in absolute top form going into the new year. After another outstanding display against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Wednesday, TSG went above Bayer 04 in the table. On Saturday, 17 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET), coach Christian Ilzer's team will be looking to continue their run in the league against the Werkself. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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