U19s coast through to the semi-finals

The Bayer 04 coaching duo of Markus von Ahlen and Iraklis Metaxas fielded several players in the starting eleven who do not normally feature but, nevertheless, the visitors from Leverkusen quickly took control in front of a reasonable crowd at the Hürther Sportpark.

In the very first attack, Jakub Bednarczyk broke down the left and found Atakan Akkaynak at the far post and he netted to open the scoring on three minutes. The lively Bednarczyk extended the lead to 3-0 with goals on 22 and 30 minutes setting the Werkself clearly on course for the semi-finals.

Clear advantage at half-time

Hürth pulled a goal back from the penalty spot on 34 minutes to make it 3-1. Bednarczyk then completed his hat-trick on 37 minutes and Dominik Bilogrevic, in his first start, completed the scoring in the first half on 45 minutes to give Bayer 04 a clear lead at 5-1.

Even after three changes for the start of the second half it was clear the U19s did not want to ease off and Ricardo Grym quickly added a sixth goal on 49 minutes. The visitors went on to create a lot of good goalscoring opportunities, "but," as coach von Ahlen said, "the final touch was missing at times."

Semi-final against Köln

The U19s scored another two goals later on through Bilogrevic (77') and Dennis Mbay (82') to round off the scoring at 8-1. The Bayer 04 U19s now face neighbours FC Köln in a home game in the semi-finals.

"As we go into the final phase of the season it's still in our hands in the league and cup so we are obviously looking forward to this challenge against Köln," said von Ahlen. Before that, along with his fellow coach Metaxas, he has given the players time off up to and including Easter Sunday.

Break over Easter

With the exception the players called up to national teams, that is Tim Handwerker, Julijan Popovic and Güven Yalcin, the rest of the squad will have the opportunity to recover ahead of the final run-in of three league games and at least one cup appearance

Training starts again on Easter Monday ahead of the Bundesliga away game at FC Mönchengladbach on 22 April.

Match stats:

Bayer 04 U19: Prinz - Popovic, Nesseler, Rhein (Harenbrock 46’), Handwerker (Siebdrat 46’), Mbay, Shala, Bednarczyk (Schreck 46’), Grym, Akkaynak (Yalcin 66’), Bilogrevic.

Goals: 0-1 Akkaynak (3’), 0-2 Bednarczyk (22’), 0-3 Bednarczyk (30’), 1-3 Brech (34’ pen.), 1-4 Bednarczyk (37’), 1-5 Bilogrevic (45’), 1-6 Grym (49’), 1-7 Bilogrevic (77’), 1-8 Mbay (82’).

Referee: Menzel (Frechen).

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