Bayer Leverkusen

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New Leverkusen team coach Bruno Labbadia watched his team notch up an 8-2 win over the amateurs of 1. FC Düren-Niederau. There were goals from Stefan Kießling (2), Paulo Grischok, Atanas Kurdow, Dimitri Bulykin, Gökhan Töre, Robert Scannewin and Maciej Zieba.

Bundesliga - Die offizielle Webseite

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Bayer Leverkusen - Darmstadt 98 4:1 (4:0)

Stefan Kießling bagged a hat-trick in Bayer's second test game, Dmitry Bulykin was on target, too.

Karim Haggui (back from injury) and new signing Constant Djakpa were in action, too.

Bundesliga - Die offizielle Webseite

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Bayer 04 Presents New Players :



Bayer 04 Players In Training :

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Bayer Leverkusen set to sign Barcelona's Henrique

Bayer Leverkusen are expected to sign Barcelona defender Henrique tomorrow.

The Brazilian youngster, who joined Barca last week from Palmeiras, will move to Germany on a season-long loan, says Sport.

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It's official now. Henrique has joined Leverkusen on loan for a year. The transfer fee is reported to be 400.000 euros.

Bayer 04 leiht Brasilianer Henrique vom FC Barcelona aus - transfermarkt.de

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Bayer Leverkusen lost 1-0 in a friendly yesterday against 2. Bundesliga side Alemannia Aachen.

Markus Daun scored the goal.

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Dum extends in Leverkusen

Three weeks before the start of the season, Bayer 04 extended their contract with Sascha Dum until June 30, 2010.

The deal with the midfielder was supposed to come to end June 30, 2009. "Sascha Dum has developed a great deal with us. And that's why we're happy to be able to have him with us for the long term", said Bayer 04 CEOWolfgang Holzhäuser about the contract extension.

Talent from the Bayer youth squad

Sascha Dum first came to Bayer 04 in 1998, ascended through the youth teams to the second squad and then made the jump onto the Bundesliga team. In January 2006, he was loaned out to Alemannia Aachen for a year and a half.

The 22 year-old player has been back with Leverkusen since last season and played in 17 matches in the 2007-2008 season. Dum scored two matches in a total of 45 Bundesliga games.

Bundesliga - Die offizielle Webseite

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Bayer Leverkusen - Auswahl Groß-Gerau 13:0 (6:0)

Bayer 04 clocked up a 13-0 win against Groß-Gerau on Sunday afternoon. This was the fifth victory in eight pre-season friendlies.

Everything was ready at the FC Germania Leeheim ground: Around 3,000 fans were eagerly awaiting this encounter and the Groß-Gerau side were warming up but there was no sign of the main attraction � the Bayer 04 team. The Werkself were slightly delayed due to an accident on the motorway and the game kicked off 20 minutes late.

Adler and Rolfes return

Head coach Bruno Labbadia opted for virtually the same starting line-up that played in the defeat against Alemannia Aachen earlier in the week. The only changes were the return of René Adler in goal and his Germany team mate Simon Rolfes was on from the start. The Bayer 04 formation remained the same: A four man midfield in front of a back four with a striking partnership of Kießling and Helmes. Arturo Vidal played in defensive midfield and just behind the front two.

Bayer 04 celebrated their first goal after just nine minutes as Stefan Kießling started the flood of goals. Karim Haggui and Patrick Helmes added two in quick succession to make it 3-0 on 26 minutes before Stefan Kießling netted another brace. Arturo Vidal got onto the score sheet to make it 6-0 at half-time.

Henrique makes debut

Gonzalo Castro went off due to a slight injury ten minutes before the break to be replaced by Oliver Petersch on 40 minutes. Bruno Labbadia sent out a completely different line-up after the break. Theofanis Gekas and Dmitry Bulykin played up front; new signing Henrique made his debut at the centre of defence and helped the Werkself to keep a clean sheet.

Gekas twice, Bulykin twice and Sascha Dum added to the scroreline to make it 11-0 on 65 minutes. Just before the end of the game Gekas added another two to make him the game�s top scorer. Bayer 04 headed straight on to the training camp in the Elztal near Freiburg after the game. The camp lasts until Saturday.

Bayer, 1st half: Adler - Castro (Petersch 40), Friedrich, Haggui, Djakpa - Rolfes - Renato, Vidal, Barnetta - Kießling, Helmes

Bayer, 2nd half: Domaschke - Petersch, Hegeler, Henrique, Grischok - Selmani, Schwegler, Kratz, Dum - Gekas, Bulykin

Bundesliga - Die offizielle Webseite

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Bayer Leverkusen 08/09 Squad

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Bayer Leverkusen were quite a way from their Westphalian home as they defeated Freiburg 2-0 in Bahlingen. Stefan Kiessling and Patrick Helmes were the scorers for Bruno Labbadia's troops.

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Bundesliga Season Preview: Bayer Leverkusen

Finishing seventh last season ultimately cost trainer Michael Skibbe his job and Leverkusen have taken a punt on young trainer Bruno Labbadia for the forthcoming campaign. Is he the one to finally take a highly promising young Bayer side onto the next level?

Time To Deliver

Few would argue with the fact that Bayer Leverkusen possess one of the most promising young squads in the Bundesliga. Former trainer Michael Skibbe along with sporting director Rudi Völler have assembled a vibrant, young squad that has threatened to achieve something in the past two seasons but ultimately failed.

The failure to deliver ultimately cost Skibbe his job at the end of last season, and with him having taken over the hot-seat at Galatasaray, the onus is now on new trainer Bruno Labbadia to help the talented side achieve its potential. Labbadia is a relatively inexperienced coach, with just one season in the second division under his belt after previously taking Darmstadt into the Regionalliga, but the Bayer board believe he has what the mentality to take the team forward.

Leverkusen were genuine contenders for a Champions League spot last season until their now customary slump at the end of the season. One of their main targets this season will be to keep up their form for 34 games, rather than wowing everybody before fizzling out.

Their star began to fall on Matchday 25 when they travelled to the Allianz Arena to face Bayern Munich. A 2-1 defeat didn’t tell the whole story as Bayer were completely shown up by the Bavarians and it was abundantly clear that the gulf between the two sides was much bigger that the points difference in the table showed.

At the time Leverkusen were third, but they never really recovered from the shock of that game and finally slipped down to seventh and out of the European places altogether.

Labbadia has a stellar squad at his disposal and with some very good acquisitions this summer he will have few excuses for not improving on last season’s seventh place finish. The future of German goalkeeping is arguably going to be in the hands of Rene Adler, although Schalke’s Manuel Neuer may yet play his way into contention. Adler single handedly secured points for Bayer last year with some fantastic saves and the Bayer goal is in safe hands with him around.

The whole team is an exciting mix of youth and experience with two particularly exciting summer signings thrown into the mix. Bayer have traditionally always had a few Brazilians in their ranks but last season they were conspicuous by their absence following the sale of Juan to Roma. This summer has seen the club splash out €6 million on midfield playmaker Renato Augusto from Flamengo.

A second Brazilian has arrived via a loan move from Spanish side Barcelona. The Catalan giants signed Henrique from Palmeiras, but immediately sent him out on a season-long loan to Leverkusen. Henrique will bolster a defence that already has the solid Manuel Friedrich, Tunisian Karim Haggui as well as German international full back Gonzalo Castro, Chilean Arturo Vidal and Vratislav Gresko. Another summer signing that was missed by many was that of Ivorian left back Constant Djakpa, who arrived from Romanian side Pandurii Targu-Jiu.

Simon Rolfes, who played for Germany at this summer’s European Championship, will anchor the midfield with Renato Augusto and Swiss star Tranquillo Barnetta given licence to get forward. Veteran Bernd Schneider is recovering from a back operation and Leverkusen fans will be hoping the veteran can return to his best form, but the fear is his best days may be behind him. His experience, however, will be vital especially with Bosnian Sergej Barbarez hanging up his boots.

Up front Labbadia - himself a prolific striker in his day - has an abundance of riches available. Stefan Kiessling and Theofanis Gekas have been joined by rising star Patrick Helmes so putting the ball in the back of the net shouldn’t be a problem this season.

One hindrance Bayer will have to overcome is the fact that they will be forced to play their home games during the second half of the season away from the BayArena as it is being developed. They will take temporary residence in Düsseldorf’s LTU Arena.

Coach: Bruno Labbadia

Stadium: BayArena (currently- 22,500)

2007/08 Position: 7th

2007/08 Record: P-34 W-15 D-6 L-13 F-57 A-40 Pts-51

Players In: Henrique (Barcelona- loan), Renato Augusto (Flamengo), Patrick Helmes (Cologne), Constant Djakpa (Pandurii Targu-Jiu)

Players Out: Sergej Barbarez (retired), Carsten Ramelow (retired), Jan Ingwer Callsen-Bracker (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Paul Feier (Bochum), Michael Papadopulos (Mlada Boleslav)

Possible Line-Up: Adler- Djakpa, Henrique, Haggui, Castro- Rolfes, Barnetta, Schneider, Renato Augusto- Helmes, Kiessling

Prognosis:

There will be an improvement on last season but I feel that Bayer may once again miss out on a European place. It is asking a lot for an inexperienced trainer like Labbadia to instantly achieve what an experienced coach like Michael Skibbe couldn’t last season.

They will no doubt entertain and provide a number of players for the German national team (Adler, Castro, Rolfes, Schneider, Kiessling, Helmes) but could just fall short of their season’s ambitions. It will be interesting to see how the two Brazilians settle in Germany.

Prediction: 7th

Goal.com - Editorial - Bundesliga Season Preview: Bayer Leverkusen

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Dum extends in Leverkusen

Three weeks before the start of the season, Bayer 04 extended their contract with Sascha Dum until June 30, 2010.



The deal with the midfielder was supposed to come to end June 30, 2009. "Sascha Dum has developed a great deal with us. And that's why we're happy to be able to have him with us for the long term", said Bayer 04 CEOWolfgang Holzhäuser about the contract extension.

Talent from the Bayer youth squad

Sascha Dum first came to Bayer 04 in 1998, ascended through the youth teams to the second squad and then made the jump onto the Bundesliga team. In January 2006, he was loaned out to Alemannia Aachen for a year and a half.

The 22 year-old player has been back with Leverkusen since last season and played in 17 matches in the 2007-2008 season. Dum scored two matches in a total of 45 Bundesliga games.

Bundesliga - Die offizielle Webseite

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Rot-Weiß Oberhausen - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2:3 after extra time

Bayer needed 120 minutes to go past 2. Bundesliga side RWO.

New signing Renato Augusto put Leverkusen ahead after 68 minutes, but a last-gasp leveller from Julian Lüttmann sent the tie into extra-time.

Mike Terranova (97) even gave Oberhausen the lead, but Bayer struck back through Theofanis Gekas (104) and Patrick Helmes (111).

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Bayer dismiss Boyd rumours

Voller insists there are no plans to bid for Rangers striker

Bayer Leverkusen have dismissed reports that a bid for Rangers striker Kris Boyd is in the pipeline.

Boyd has been linked with a £2.75million move to Leverkusen, while Bundesliga rivals Cologne have also been credited with an interest.

But Leverkusen's sporting director Rudi Voller insists the club are not planning to make an offer for the Scotland international.

"I know the player, of course, but there is no link to us," Voller told local media.

"I do not know where these rumours come from."

Boyd has been tipped to leave Ibrox before the close of the transfer window as he battles for a regular first-team starting spot.

He had been linked with a switch to Cardiff City, but recent reports have suggested Walter Smith is keen to hang on to the forward.

Sky Sports | Football | Bundesliga | News | Bayer dismiss Boyd rumours

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Bundesliga 2008/09, Matchday 1 / PREVIEW:
Bayer Leverkusen – Borussia Dortmund

Two more trainers take charge of their first games with new clubs as Bayer Leverkusen host Borussia Dortmund at the Bay-Arena. Bruno Labbadia is in the hot-seat for Bayer, while Jürgen Klopp will be in the opposite dugout for BVB. Both will be looking for a positive start.

Leverkusen expect to have the exciting Brazilian duo of Henrique and Renato Augusto on show and Patrick Helmes could well also make his Bundesliga debut for the club. Bernd Schneider is still on the road to recovery following a back operation.

Dortmund fans again start the season with high hopes and will want to avoid defeat in their first game of the season. Trainer Jürgen Klopp may hand Dortmund league debuts to Tamas Hajnal, Neven Subotic, although forward Alexander Frei and Tinga will be missing through injury.