The BayArena was in ship and the Werkself supporters were treated to a day of excitement and entertainment with numerous highlights. The new Benedictine beer garden at North/West concourse was officially opened by Bayer 04 CEO Michael Schade at the start of the event. “We’ve used the summer break to further improve the service provided to Leverkusen fans at the BayArena,” declared Schade shortly after cutting the red ribband. “The new beer garden, like the Schwadbud, provides a great atmosphere for Bayer 04 fans to get together before and after matches.”
The Bayer 04 CEO the joined Werkself pro Danny da Costa and goalkeeping legend Rüdiger Vollborn on the south piazza to hand out loyalty scarves to fans who attended all Werkself home games at the BayArena last season.
Max Giesinger performs ’80 million’
30 minutes ahead of the friendly against Real Sociedad it was time for the chart topper Max Giesinger to get the Bayer 04 fans in the mood for the match from the centre circle. The singer-songwriter, wearing a Werkself shirt, performed his hit ‘80 million’ and later joined in with the autograph session. After Max Giesinger got the crowd going the atmosphere was electric when the stadium announcers Petra ‘Pitti’ Dahl and Thomas Wagner introduced the Werkself ahead of the kick-off. Every player ran onto the pitch accompanied by smoke and sound effects. Bayer 04 legend Stefan Kießling received a great reception from the Werkself fans.
The sporting climax was provided by an extremely lively Werkself side: Roger Schmidt’s team did not give an inch to the visitors from San Sebastian a week ahead of their first competitive game of the season against Real Madrid. The goals in the convincing home win were scored by new signing Kevin Volland and Chicharito. “We wanted to entertain the supporters at the season launch event. I think we’ve succeeded,” said Roger Schmidt at the end of the event.
Da Costa on live broadcast
And Werkself pro Danny da Costa, who was a guest on the live broadcast of the match on www.bayer04.de alongside Michael Schade and Hans-Peter Lehnhoff with Bayer 04 TV presenter Niko Hartmann, shared exciting insights into the mood in the Werkself camp: “Everyone here shares the feeling that we’ll have a really good season if everybody does their best.”
Da Costa declared his satisfaction with the performance of his team-mates. “The win was absolutely deserved and we could have won by a bigger margin,” said the right back who is set to return to full training in the near future following an operation to remove a pin from his shin in the middle of July.
Jonathan Tah named ‘Player of the Season’
During the half-time break the crowd showed their appreciation to the winner of the ‘Player of the Season’ vote for last season organised by the Bayer 04 Club. This year it was Jonathan Tah who came out on top ahead of Bernd Leno and Chicharito. The team autograph session proved to be a huge attraction with long queues forming as the fans waited for their heroes to give their coveted signatures.
