Kai Havertz is 17 years old but he is like a first-team regular in front of goal. On 24 minutes, he won the ball in the box and tucked it away in confident manner. That was a high point of an already emotional week as his strike was the only goal of the game in the 1-0 win against Fortuna Köln. "The win was absolutely deserved," said Roger Schmidt after the game.
Collecting match practice
The Werkself head coach not only had to make a number of changes for the friendly against the third division club due to injury but also due to the absence of first team players away on international duty. That meant several players had the opportunity to get time on the pitch after several weeks on the sidelines. "The match was ideal for Danny da Costa, Lukas Boeder, Niklas Lomb and Roberto Hilbert," said Schmidt. They all played for 90 minutes and "proved they were in good shape and that I can count on them." One particular good piece of news: Vladlen Yurchenko celebrated his comeback after two months ruled out with injury.
The first decent chance of the game fell to Stefan Kießling. The impressive Fortuna goalkeeper Tim Boss kept out the Werkself striker on 16 minutes and shortly after that he was stretched by a failed attempt to clear by captain Florian Hörnig on 22 minutes. Boss was left helpless by a well hit shot from Havertz. At the other end, Lomb pulled off a great reflex save to keep out former Karlsruhe second division pro Selcuk Alibaz to protect the 1-0 lead on 37 minutes.
Changes galore
Schmidt introduced another six U19 youngsters over the course of the second half to give them time with the first team players and they justified his confidence with the best chance after the break. On 84 minutes Simon Rhein put the sub Ufumwen Osawe through in the opposition box and his shot from a tight angle hit the bar. With Lomb keeping a clean sheet, the match ended in a deserved 1-0 victory for Bayer 04.
"I was happy with the game, said Roger Schmidt: "You could see they enjoyed playing and, in spite of a hard week, the players definitely wanted to win the match." As expected, the coach has given his team three days off with the next training session at the BayArena taking place on Monday at 10.00 CET.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Lomb – Hilbert, Boeder, Abu Hanna (Nesseler 46’ ), da Costa – Akkaynak (Bednarczyk 77’), Yurchenko (Rhein 60’) – Havertz, Harenbrock (Yalcin 60’), Wendell (Osawe 60’) – Kießling (Shala 77’)
Goals: 1-0 Havertz (24’)
Attendance: 267
A fresh look for the BayArena: The Bayer 04 stadium will have new seating in the form of folding seats for the 2026/27 campaign that will ensure significantly improved seating comfort and simplified movement within the rows of seats. As part of routine replacement after 17 years, fans of the Werkself were able to purchase the existing seats, used to witness the first German league title in the club's history. In addition, a large proportion of the seats will be donated to charitable projects, primarily in the local region. Bayer 04 fans can look forward to new, functional folding seats for the season opener at the beginning of August - still in the club colours of black and red, of course. A glimpse at the BayArena during the refurbishment.
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Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and Bayer 04 loanee Francis Onyeka are part of Germany's final squad for the U19 European Championships this summer. The tournament is in Wales from 24 June to 12 July.
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Bayer 04 are away to third-division club SV Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round of the 2026/27 DFB Pokal. That was the outcome of the draw on Saturday night, 6 June, at the German Football Museum in Dortmund. The Werkself first round tie will be played between 21 and 24 August. The exact date has yet to be finalised.
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