Regardless of the late withdrawal of Benjamin Henrichs and Jonathan Tah, head coach Heiko Herrlich will have to make do without six first team players. While it is the last chance saloon for two of the Werkself stars and their national teams, the others are involved in friendly fixtures.
Admir Mehmedi (Switzerland) and Panos Retsos (Greece) are battling for a place in next year's World Cup finals in Russia: Switzerland are away to Northern Ireland on Thursday (9 November, 20.45 CET) with the return match in Basel on Sunday (12 November, 18.00 CET). Greece take on Croatia in the World Cup play-offs – the first leg is on Thursday (20.45 CET) and the second leg is at home in Piraeus on Sunday (20.45 CET).
Bernd Leno and Julian Brandt are under far less pressure ahead of joining the Germany squad on Tuesday. They are possibles for the friendlies against England on Friday (10 November, 21 .00 CET) and France in Cologne a week on Tuesday (14 November, 20.45 CET).
The captain of Austria, Julian Baumgartlinger, has also been called up for a friendly: 'Baumi' and his fellow Austrians face Uruguay (Tuesday, 14. November, 20.45 CET). Heiko Herrlich will be without the services of Joel Pohjanpalo over the next few days as the 23-year-old is in the Finland squad for the game against Estonia on Thursday 9 November at 18.00 CET.
In addition to the six players from the first team, two Bayer 04 youth players are also away on international duty: Sam Schreck and Atakan Akkaynak are set to play for the Germany U19s in a friendly against Cyprus (Sunday, 12 November, 14.30 CET).
The aforementioned Bayer 04 players are unavailable for the Werkself in the friendly against second division MSV Duisburg on Thursday (9 November) at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium (15.00 CET, free entry).
After Jens Nowotny was officially named a Bayer 04 honorary captain last weekend, the long-standing Werkself player is part of the Leverkusen delegation on the trophy tour to New York City next week from 11 to 14 September. In an interview with bayer04.de, the 50-year-old talked about his expectations ahead of the trip to the metropolis on the East Coast of the USA.
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Show moreMarkus Rehm, a long jumper at TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, won the gold medal for the fourth time in succession at the Paralympics on Wednesday.
Show moreThe fixture details for the second round of the DFB Pokal 2024/25 have been confirmed. The home tie for Bayer 04 against second division SV 07 Elversberg is on Tuesday, 29 October with the kick off at 18.00 CET (live on Sky). That was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on Thursday.
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