After a breach of rules by the referee in the 3-2 win for the Black and Reds in Freiburg the Federal Court of the German Football Association (DFB) finally rejected the Leverkusen appeal against the match being replayed in December. Almost five months later and 43 days after the return match (2-0) the second half of the season now begins with the rearranged game. The situation is similar to the run-up to the last match just after the verdict was announced. "We dealt with it in a very professional manner back then and we will do it again now," said coach Roberto Pätzold: "We want to regain the points that were taken from us."
The Werkself prepared for the restart on the Spanish Mediterranean coast after the best Hinrunde in the club's history and fourth place in the table with 26 points from eleven games. Between 12 and 19 January, Pätzold worked on fine tuning his team on the Spanish coast in Oliva including two wins in friendlies. "Our training camp was important because we were able to work on content under very good conditions," said the coach: "We were able to share out a lot of time on the pitch and work on competitive fitness because we were also tested physically." And the previous performances against SC Freiburg are encouraging: "We are very well prepared with the win from the last game and we go to Freiburg in confident mood. We've shown we can beat them twice."
Also, because coach Theresa Merk has returned to the Freiburg dugout after maternity leave, Pätzold does not want to solely rely on previous analysis of the opponents. "There could be one or two personnel changes. We know the qualities of Freiburg in transition and we’ll have to give our all to build on our performance levels before the break," he said: "Neither side will be at 100% again yet. But we've shown that we have strong mentality and a keen focus to win games. In addition, we have great experience from the Hinrunde to be able to react to many eventualities."
Paulina Bartz, Synne Skinnes Hansen and Loreen Bender (after tonsil operation) are all still in rehab training with Vanessa Haim (back problems) and Sofia Cava Marin (torn cruciate) also still sidelined. In contrast, Juliette Vidal, who missed the training camp because of a broken nose, is now back in full training.
Any Werkself fans deciding to go to the game at this late stage can acquire seats in the away Block A at the Dreisamstadion HERE. A group of travelling fans will accompany the Bayer 04 Women on coaches to Freiburg and will also be in that block.
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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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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Bayer 04 are now unbeaten in the last 32 Bundesliga away games (the second longest run in the history of the Bundesliga) but players and coaches were self-critical after the 1-1 draw at FC St. Pauli. "Our performances aren’t good enough," said goalscorer Patrik Schick after the game. The Werkself review of the Sunday night match at the Millerntor.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-1 draw at FC St. Pauli on the 30th matchday of the Bundesliga 2024/25...
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