Two of the four flights landed at Alicante airport at eight in the morning and the late comers arrived at the team hotel at 11 o'clock. They were greeted in the lobby by Julian Baumgartlinger, Jonathan Tah and Co. while Aránguiz, Bailey, Alario and Wendell 'only' had their flights to deal with, the rest of the Werkself players had been busy in the hotel gym. The fitness coaches had organised a strength and stabilisation session in the morning. The players worked in the gym in two groups.
While most of the players were given the chance to recover after the gym session, Exequiel Palacios had his first meeting with the media. In an interview with journalists on the terrace of the La Manga Club Resort, with a view of the palms and the bay of La Manga, he patiently answered the numerous questions of the travelling members of the media. The Argentinian revealed his first impressions: "I had a great reception from the team and I'm very happy to be here – in spite of the language barrier. It was a bit much having to try remember all the names on the first day. But I really liked the communal meal and time in the rooms and it was even better in the training session." Further news will be on tomorrow on bayer04.de
The new signing showed what he could do in the first training sessions. And that drew praise from a World Cup winner: "You can see straight away he has very quick speed of execution and good orientation on the pitch," said sporting managing director Rudi Völler about Palacios who is now just known as 'Pala' by his team-mates. "It's good to have top players like that – particularly when you're in three competitions."
In the afternoon, the ball was centre of attention. The focus in the second training session the day, on the pitch at La Manga at 16.00 CET, was on the shooting, challenges and positional play. While Bailey, Alario and Wendell were able to get fully involved after the warm-up, Aránguiz had to drop out as the Chilean was suffering with muscular problems. Karim Bellarabi is doing better today. The 29-year-old was suffering from tonsillitis yesterday but was able to take part in training again today.
The Bender twins know how each other play on the pitch but with 'Who am I?' it was Sven Bender who was barking up the wrong tree. In the new YouTube format, two players have to guess, with the help of ingenious questions, the character defined for each other. The Bender brothers were first up and they can be seen on the Bayer 04 YouTube channel.
New signing Miguel Gutiérrez arrives in Leverkusen having won the Champions League, the Spanish league title and an Olympic gold medal. However, the 25-year-old Spaniard, signed from Napoli, is looking to the future – he wants to write the next chapter of success with the Werkself. Bayer04.de takes a closer look at the skilful, attack-minded left-back, who will wear the number 3 jersey.
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The Werkself's training camp in Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog you'll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day three (Tuesday 4 August) begins with a thorough open session on the pitch. After lunch, some players have media engagements at the team hotel, and then the team come together for a barbecue in the evening.
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Nine matches against teams from nine countries, two penalty shoot-outs won, and encounters that went far beyond football: As with last year, the Inklusionswerkself enjoyed an extraordinary week at the Genuine Cup 2026 in Houston, USA, and made memories that will last a lifetime. This year, the Leverkusen side took part as Germany’s official representatives and, accordingly, took to the pitch in Germany kit. Together with 53 teams from 53 nations, the Black and Reds once again sent a powerful message of inclusion and participation – and also impressed on the pitch by winning their group.
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The Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog, you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. The programme for day two (Monday, 3 August) centres on two training sessions – one in the morning (open to the public) and one in the early evening (behind closed doors) – at the nearby training grounds. In the afternoon, fans can look forward to a big fan meet-up with club legend Paulo Sergio at Schloss Blankenhain.
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