Uefa Europa League

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - 2018/19 SEASON

MATCH PRESS KITS

BayArena - Leverkusen

Thursday 29 November 2018
18.55CET (18.55 local time)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

PFC Ludogorets 1945

Group A - Matchday 5
Last updated 22/02/2019 15:38CET

Previous meetings Match background
23
Team facts Squad list
57

Fixtures and results

9

Match-by-match lineups
13

16 17
Match officials Legend

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Bayer 04 Leverkusen - PFC Ludogorets 1945 Match press kit
Thursday 29 November 2018 - 18.55CET (18.55 local time)
BayArena, Leverkusen

Previous meetings

Head to Head

UEFA Europa League

Date

Stage Match

Result

Venue

Goalscorers

Keșerü 8, Marcelinho 31; Havertz 38, 69, Kiese Thelin 63

PFC Ludogorets 1945 - Bayer 04 Leverkusen

20/09/2018

GS

2-3

Razgrad

Home

Away

Final

Total

Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA

Bayer 04 Leverkusen PFC Ludogorets 1945
01
00
00
01
10
10
00
00
00
00
00
00
11
10
00
01
32
23

Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Record versus clubs from opponents' country

UEFA Cup

Date

Stage Match

Result

Venue

Goalscorers

PFC CSKA Sofia - Bayer 04

Leverkusen
1-0 agg: 2-0

29/09/2005

R1

Sofia

Hdiouad 67

Bayer 04 Leverkusen - PFC

CSKA Sofia

15/09/2005

0-1

Leverkusen

Y. Todorov 15

PFC Ludogorets 1945 - Record versus clubs from opponents' country

UEFA Europa League

Date

Stage Match

Result

Venue

Goalscorers

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim - PFC Ludogorets 1945
Ochs 25; Wanderson 62

07/12/2017

GS

1-1

Sinsheim

PFC Ludogorets 1945 - TSG

1899 Hoffenheim
Dyakov 46, Lukoki 72; Kadeřábek 2

28/09/2017

2-1

Razgrad

Home

Away

Final

Total

Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA

Bayer 04 Leverkusen PFC Ludogorets 1945
12
01
00
11
21
10
01
10
00
00
00
00
33
11
01
21
35
45

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Match background

Bayer Leverkusen's place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 is guaranteed thanks to results on matchday four, whereas Ludogorets can no longer finish in the top two. The German club will cement top spot in Group A if they beat Ludogorets and Zürich, who are also through, lose at home to eliminated AEK Larnaca.

• Although Leverkusen lost 3-2 away to FCZ on matchday three, they have a head-to-head away goals advantage over the Swiss club thanks to their subsequent 1-0 home win against the same opponents. They also claimed maximum points from their first two matches, winning 3-2 in Bulgaria and 4-2 at home to AEK.

• Defeated in their opening two games, including 0-1 at Zürich, Ludogorets drew twice against AEK (1-1 away, 0-0 at home) – results that ended the qualifying hopes of both sides.

Previous meetings

• The clubs had never met before matchday one, when Leverkusen came from two goals down to win 3-2 in Bulgaria, Kai Havertz scoring twice including the 69th-minute winner.

• Leverkusen's only other encounters with a Bulgarian club brought back-to-back 1-0 defeats against CSKA Sofia in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup first round. That is the only one of the German side's last 16 European campaigns that did not feature group stage involvement.

• Ludogorets took four points off Hoffenheim – their first ever German opponents – in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage, recording a 2-1 home win then a qualification-clinching 1-1 draw in Germany, with Wanderson scoring the visitors’ goal.

Form guide Leverkusen

• Leverkusen booked direct access to the UEFA Europa League group stage by finishing fifth in last season's Bundesliga.

• This is the Rhinelanders' third UEFA Europa League group stage participation, the previous two, in 2010/11 and 2012/13, having likewise extended into the knockout phase, where they also competed in 2015/16 after transferring over from the UEFA Champions League. The club's two UEFA Cup group stage campaigns, in 2006/07 and 2007/08, were also successful, both ending in the quarter-finals.

• The Werkself have lost just one of their last nine European home games (W3 D5) and are unbeaten at the BayArena in the UEFA Europa League group stage (W6 D2), keeping clean sheets in six of those eight matches.

Ludogorets

• Ludogorets' seventh consecutive Bulgarian league title earned them a place in this season's UEFA Champions League first qualifying round. Having seen off Crusaders 9-0 over two games, they then lost to Hungarian champions Vidi to move into the UEFA Europa League, where they eliminated Zrinjski and Torpedo Kutaisi to reach the group stage of the competition for the second year in a row – and third time in all.

• The Razgrad club were successful in each of their previous two UEFA Europa League group stage participations, reaching the round of 16 in 2013/14 and round of 32 in 2017/18. They also competed in the 2016/17 round of 32, having finished third in their UEFA Champions League group.

• Ludogorets boast an impressive record on their travels in the UEFA Europa League, having lost just three of their 15 away matches, qualifying included (W6 D6), and never conceded more than once in any of those games. The matchday two loss at Zürich (0-1) is their only defeat in eight group stage matches outside Bulgaria (W4 D3).

Links and trivia

• Leverkusen coach Heiko Herrlich won the third of his five caps for Germany in a 3-2 defeat by Bulgaria in a memorable EURO '96 qualifier on 7 June 1995 in Sofia.

• Leverkusen lifted the UEFA Cup in 1987/88 and are one of six former winners of the trophy in this season's group stage, along with Sevilla, Chelsea, Zenit, Anderlecht and Eintracht Frankfurt.

• Ludogorets striker Claudiu Keşerü, who opened the scoring in the home defeat against Leverkusen, holds the record for the fastest hat-trick scored in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final, finding the net three times in ten minutes for FCSB against Aalborg in a 6-0 win on 18 September 2014.

The coaches

• A former German international striker, Herrlich began his professional playing career at Leverkusen, with whom he won the German Cup, before going on to star for Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund, winning the UEFA Champions League with the latter in 1997. He took over as Leverkusen coach in June 2017 following spells with German youth selections and in lower-league football and led the Rhinelanders to a fifth-place Bundesliga finish

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in his debut campaign. • Antoni Zdravkov is the new head coach of Ludogorets having stepped up from the assistant post he filled under previous boss Paulo Autuori, who left the club in early October. A former defender who began his playing career in the mid-1980s with Levski Sofia and played three times for Bulgaria, Zdravkov had a short spell as Levski coach before taking charge of Bulgaria's Under-21 side from October 2014 until June 2018, when he left to join Autuori at Ludogorets.

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Team facts

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Formed: 1904 Nickname: Werkself (Factory Team)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)

• UEFA Champions League: (2002) • UEFA Cup (1): 1988

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)

German Cup: 1 (1993)

Ten-year European record (UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup unless indicated otherwise)

2017/18: did not take part in UEFA club competition 2016/17: UEFA Champions League round of 16 2015/16: round of 16 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage) 2014/15: UEFA Champions League round of 16 2013/14: UEFA Champions League round of 16

2012/13: round of 32

2011/12: UEFA Champions League round of 16

2010/11: round of 16

2009/10: did not take part in UEFA club competition 2008/09: did not take part in UEFA club competition

Records UEFA club competition

• Biggest home win 6-1: Leverkusen v Dinamo Tbilisi 13/08/97, UEFA Champions League second qualifying round first leg 5-0 twice, most recently v Baník Ostrava 11/08/04, UEFA Champions League third qualifying round first leg

• Biggest away win 1-6: Tervis Pärnu v Leverkusen 08/07/95, UEFA Intertoto Cup group stage

0-5: Zürich v Leverkusen

19/12/07, UEFA Cup group stage • Heaviest home defeat 0-5: Leverkusen v Manchester United 27/11/13, UEFA Champions League group stage

• Heaviest away defeat 7-1: Barcelona v Leverkusen 07/03/12, UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg

UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup

• Biggest home win 5-0: Leverkusen v Kispest Honvéd 01/11/94, second round second leg

• Biggest away win 0-5: Zürich v Leverkusen (see above)

• Heaviest home defeat

1-4: Leverkusen v Zenit

03/04/08, quarter-finals first leg

0-3: Leverkusen v Osasuna

05/04/07, quarter-finals first leg • Heaviest away defeat 3-0 on three occasions, most recently v Parma 18/04/95, semi-finals second leg

FC Ludogorets Razgrad

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Formed: 1945 Nickname: The Eagles from Razgrad

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)

• None

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)

League title: 7 (2018) Bulgarian Cup: 2 (2014)

Ten-year European record (UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup unless indicated otherwise)

2017/18: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League third qualifying round) 2016/17: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage) 2015/16: UEFA Champions League second qualifying round 2014/15: UEFA Champions League group stage 2013/14: round of 16 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League play-offs) 2012/13: UEFA Champions League second qualifying round 2011/12: did not take part in UEFA club competition 2010/11: did not take part in UEFA club competition 2009/10: did not take part in UEFA club competition 2008/09: did not take part in UEFA club competition

Records UEFA club competition

• Biggest home win 7-0: Ludogorets v Crusaders 11/07/18, UEFA Champions League first qualifying round first leg

Biggest away win 0-3: Mladost Podgorica v Ludogorets 19/07/16, UEFA Champions League second qualifying round second leg

• Heaviest home defeat 0-3 twice, most recently v AC Milan 15/02/18, UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg

• Heaviest away defeat

6-0: Arsenal v Ludogorets

19/10/16, UEFA Champions League group stage

UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League

• Biggest home win 4-0: Ludogorets v Torpedo Kutaisi 30/08/18, play-off second leg

• Biggest away win 0-2 twice, most recently v Braga 19/10/17, group stage

• Heaviest home defeat 0-3 twice, most recently v AC Milan (see above)

• Heaviest away defeat 1-0 three times, most recently v Zürich 04/10/18, group stage

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Squad list

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Current season UEL League UEL
Age D Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls
All-time
UEFA

No. Player

Nat.

DoB

Goalkeepers
1 Lukas Hradecky
24 Thorsten Kirschbaum 28 Ramazan Özcan Defenders

FIN 24/11/1989 29 GER 20/04/1987 31 AUT 28/06/1984 34
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4-
---

10
-
---

4-
---
12
-
--

-

2

-

1

3 Panagiotis Retsos 4 Jonathan Tah 5 Sven Bender 6 Aleksandar Dragović
16 Tin Jedvaj

GRE 09/08/1998 20 GER 11/02/1996 22 GER 27/04/1989 29 AUT 06/03/1991 27 CRO 28/11/1995 23 BRA 20/07/1993 25 GER 21/04/1994 24
---*---

-

1-

75
--
12 18 47 77 15 26 14
-

-

1

24344

12 10
6

-

16

39
6

-

1-

11-
21-
1-

6

18 Wendell

12

11
11

8

23 Mitchell Weiser Midfielders

-

9

-

7 Paulinho

BRA 15/07/2000 18 GER 27/04/1989 29 GER 02/05/1996 22 AUT 02/01/1988 30 CHI 17/04/1989 29 GER 31/01/1994 24 GER 11/06/1999 19 GER 29/01/1999 19 POL 02/01/1999 19 GER 08/04/1990 28
-*-
2441143-
--

6
10 12
2
-11-

2
19
8
--
2
49 32 24
9
-122-

8 Lars Bender
10 Julian Brandt 15 Julian Baumgartlinger 20 Charles Aránguiz 21 Dominik Kohr 29 Kai Havertz

1-
1

-

6

-

3

-

1

-

S-
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