Julian Brandt is the only Werkself pro to play in all 34 Bundesliga games last season: The 22-year-old forward was in the starting line-up 26 times and he came off the subs bench eight times (2,334 minutes). That makes the number 10 in the Herrlich team one of only four attacking players in the Bundesliga not to miss a single game in the season alongside Niclas Füllkrug (Hannover, 2,387 minutes), Thorgan Hazard (Gladbach, 2,946 minutes) and Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim, 2,222 minutes). Brandt also played in all five DFB Cup games. Well done Julian.
Although Julian Brandt did not miss a single game this term, four of his team-mates did have more time on the pitch. To be more exact: Bernd Leno (33 appearances, 2,970 minutes), Kevin Volland (31 appearances, 2,599 minutes), Jonathan Tah (28 appearances, 2,426 minutes) and Sven Bender (29 appearances, 2,347 minutes).
Kevin Volland was the top scorer for the Werkself with 14 goals followed by Lucas Alario, Leon Bailey and Julian Brandt each with nine in the league. Along with Mark Uth (Hoffenheim) and Niclas Füllkurg (Hannover), Volland is the best German striker after Nils Petersen (Freiburg, 15). By contributing to 16 goals (including two assists) Volland has clocked up the most goals and assists for Bayer 04 this term – ahead of Leon Bailey (9 goals, 6 assists), Lucas Alario, Julian Brandt (both 9 goals, 5 assists) plus Kai Havertz (3 goals, 9 assists).
Talking about Kai Havertz. The Werkself player with the most assists became the youngest ever Bundesliga player to set up 10 goals (since detailed stats were first collected in 2004) on matchday 17 at the age of 18 and 189 days. On matchday 30, the Werkself number 29 made his 50th Bundesliga appearance at the age of 18 years and 307 days in the 4-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt - no other player has reached that landmark at a younger age. In his 54 Bundesliga games to date, Havertz has scored seven goals and provided 15 assists – a fantastic achievement for a midfielder.
With 94 per cent of passes completed, Julian Baumgartlinger provided the most passes in the whole of the Bundesliga (only player with at least 500 passes). Congratulations, Baumi. His fellow defensive midfielder, Charles Aránguiz, had the highest number of touches for the Werkself (2,170) and the third most in the league – and that with just 27 Bundesliga appearances this season.
Leon Bailey had the most efforts on goal for the Werkself (75) and also set up the most shots (61). By participating in 136 shots, he is fourth in the league behind Thorgan Hazard (Gladbach, 149), Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern, 145) and Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim, 137). Moreover: Along with teammate Julian Brandt, the Jamaican scored three of his nine goals this season as a result of counter-attacks. Only Frankfurt’s Luka Jovic and Hannover’s Niclas Füllkrug have struck more often on the break (4 each).
Kevin Volland was, at the same time, the most fouled Bayer 04 player (60 times, shared ninth place in the league) and the player in Black and Read to commit the most fouls (59, shared eighth place in the league). However: Volland also made the most challenges for the Werkself (698 – the eleventh highest in the league) – that represents an average of 23 challenges per game. And the Werkself number 31 also won 43 per cent of his duels.
With 70.2 per cent of challenges won, Jonathan Tah is the best tackler for the Werkself. In the Bundesliga, only Schalke’s Naldo (73.6%) has a higher number of challenges (only player with an average of at least four challenges the game).
Two keepers, lots of questions: Werkself captain Lukas Hradecky and U19 goalkeeper Jesper Schlich visited the BarmeniaGothaer children’s press conference in partnership with the Bayer 04 Lions Club on Wednesday afternoon. The duo faced interesting and at times unusual questions from around 50 inquisitive young journalists in the press conference room at the BayArena.
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A large number of sporting directors and officials from big clubs across Europe came to the BayArena on Tuesday for the second seminar in the UEFA Sporting Director Programme (SDP) in cooperation with the ECA.
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Full-back Janou Levels will leave Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the end of the season. The 24-year-old has activated her release clause and she will join Bundesliga rivals VfL Wolfsburg. She has signed a three-year contract.
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After returning from Hamburg and a day off on Easter Monday, the Werkself players were back on the training ground at the BayArena on Tuesday morning. Following the session, Amine Adli was very positive in a media interview about the remaining four matches including the forthcoming home game against FC Augsburg (Saturday, 26 April, 15:30 CEST): "We will give our all to end the season as well as we can!"
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