Exequiel Palacios of Bayer Leverkusen will be sidelined for the entire 2025 calendar year due to an injury sustained in last night’s victory against Eintracht Frankfurt. On Saturday afternoon, Palacios’ Bundesliga club confirmed the news. At the 15-minute mark, Palacios had to be substituted due to a muscle tendon issue in his right adductor. The 26-year-old has surgery scheduled for next week.
Yesterday evening, Alex Garcia took Palacios’ place to partner with Robert Andrich in the double-six. Kasper Hjulmand, the new head coach of B04, will need to undertake significant tactical adjustments before next weekend’s league match against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Both Andrich and potential other midfield candidate Ezequiel Fernandez will be unavailable, having received red cards for two yellow card offenses last night.
It is possible that either Malik Tillmann, the attacker, or Axel Tape, the centre-back, will get some time in midfield. Before he can focus on Gladbach, Hjulmand needs to assist die Werkself in achieving a successful start in Europe. On Thursday, Leverkusen will start their 2025/26 Champions League season in Hjulmand’s home country of Denmark, facing FC Copenhagen at the renowned Parken Stadium.
