Bayer 04 have never previously played a team from Azerbaijan. The last time the Black and Reds faced a club on the European stage from a previously unknown country was in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League in 2015/16 when the Werkself beat BATE Borisov 4-1 at home.
While it is the first time for Leverkusen to meet an Azerbaijani club, Qarabag have played German teams six times. The side from the Caspian Sea lost five of those six matches and the last outing was a 1-1 draw against SC Freiburg in last season's group stage.
Top of the table in the national league, no points dropped in the Europa League: The Werkself face a tough opponent. Qarabag are currently leading the Premyer Liqasi, the Azerbaijani top-flight, with 20 points from ten games. Two wins in the first group matches in the Europa League puts the current champions of Azerbaijan second in Group H behind the Werkself.
Qarabag are particularly impressive in defence: They are one of only three teams yet to concede in the current Europa League campaign and they have the second best defence in their domestic league. The lowdown on our next opponents.
Anyone wanting to read key information before the game should take a look at the new Werkself Live. The matchday programme, offering the most important facts and stats on the game in compact form, is available at the BayArena. Alternatively it is available free online. Click HERE for the e-paper.
UEFA has appointed the Romanian referee Horatiu Fesnic as the match official in charge of the game against Qarabag. The 34-year-old will be assisted by his fellow countrymen Valentin Avram and Alexandru Cerei on the touchlines with the Portuguese referee Tiago Martins is in action as the VAR.
As usual, Werkself Radio is available for anybody unable to be at today's game. The audio broadcast begins 30 minutes before kick-off with commentary provided by Niko Hartmann and Cedric Pick. In addition, the live text update service will keep you up-to-date to ensure you don't miss any of the key match action. Both Werkself Radio and the live text update service are available at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app.
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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