"We're in a good position: We're fifth in the league and in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup. I think there are a lot of teams in Germany who'd be happy to swap places with us," said the Bayer 04 coach in the knowledge that he and his players want to earn their reward for all their efforts over the past months. "Of course, we're aiming to pick up as many points as possible. I hope it will be enough to qualify for the Champions League at the end of the day. We're capable of achieving that aim. But other teams at the top are in the same position," said the 46-year-old. The objective is clear for tomorrow's game.
A look at the table reveals: A five-point gap to Schalke in second place, and a nine-point lead over tenth-placed Augsburg. For Herrlich, that is no reason to underestimate Manuel Baum's team. He pointed out that Augsburg competed in the Europa League two years ago. "They are a very ambitious team and are in the running to qualify for Europe again. They're definitely in with a good chance," said Herrlich. For that reason, he sees himself facing a tricky challenge. "I read an interview with Daniel Baier that said Augsburg are coming to pick up three points," declared Herrlich. The FC Augsburg captain also said FC Köln had shown how to beat Leverkusen – by adopting a physical approach. "I didn't expect anything else. Augsburg regularly show in their home games that they can be very aggressive," said the Bayer 04 coach before adding: "But I don't want to say Augsburg just play with grit and aggression as they very often produce results by playing good football. So we need to play to our full potential and do all we can to get a result."
The Werkself are particularly keen to improve on the performance in the 2-0 derby defeat in Cologne. "After the international break, we discussed the Köln game again with the whole squad yesterday. The outcome was clearly that we don't want another performance like that. But now we're looking ahead and we want to show we can put on a different display against Augsburg," declared Herrlich before adding: "Against Köln there were a number of situations where we didn't put in a challenge and we really lacked passion and heart. The players see it like that too. We need to rediscover our passion and heart against Augsburg. We want to take all three points."
Herrlich will have to manage without the suspended Lucas Alario and Joel Pohjanpalo. The 23-year-old suffered an ankle injury last Friday in Finland's 0-0 draw with Macedonia and is ruled out as an option up front. In contrast, the Bayer 04 coach will probably be able to call on the services of his skipper Lars Bender. Herrlich: "Lars completed almost the whole of full training yesterday and the day before. He's recovered from his groin problems and he's doesn't have any pain. However, we'll have to see if we can play him tomorrow."
Tickets are still available for the Augsburg game. Bayer 04 are expecting a crowd of 25,000.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
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In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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