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.
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.
Show moreThe German Football League (DFL) has confirmed the dates and kick-off times for matchdays 6 to 12 of the 2024/25 Bundesliga season. Full details of the Bayer 04 fixtures.
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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