2-2 at RC Lens – Werkself draw friendly in France

Bayer 04's second 2024/25 pre-season friendly ended in a draw. In the match away to French top-flight club RC Lens, new signing Martin Terrier (6') and Florian Wirtz (51') both gave the Werkself - who debuted the new home kit - the lead.

Head coach Xabi Alonso made three changes to the team that started in the 2-1 win in the opening friendly at Rot-Weiss Essen. Matej Kovar started in goal in place of Lukas Hradecky, while Robert Andrich and Granit Xhaka replaced Arthur and Jonas Hofmann in the starting line-up.

first goal for Terrier - Lens equalise close to half-time

At a sold-out Stade Bollaert-Delelis, where three of the four stands were open in the lower standing tiers, the Werkself started brightly and were rewarded after just six minutes. Amine Adli won the ball high up, Victor Boniface seized on it and rounded Lens' goalkeeper, and although the striker's finish was cleared off the line, the ball fell to new signing Martin Terrier who netted his first goal in a Bayer 04 shirt.

With a 1-0 lead, the German double winners acted with caution and regularly got forward without creating notable goalscoring opportunities. It was the same at the other end as it looked like the visitors would go in at the break with a slender advantage - but Lens struck on the stroke of half-time. Jhoanner Chavez delivered a cross from the left to the head of Wesley Said, who nodded in the equaliser.

Wirtz restores lead - rcl equalise late

Alonso introduced Hradecky, Jonathan Tah, Piero Hincapie, Hofmann and Florian Wirtz for the second half, and the latter was in the heart of the action straight away. After a long ball from Aleix Garcia, the 21-year-old sized up and made it 2-1 to the Werkself with a first-time finish into the far corner. Five minutes later, Hradecky had to turn away a long-range strike from Florian Sotoca. After that the game died down a bit with several substitutions being made, including youngsters Andrea Natali and Ben Hawighorst. But then Lens' Jonathan Gradit had a go from distance in the 84th minute - and scored from virtually nowhere into the corner to make the final score 2-2.

looking ahead: Two friendlies in a week

Bayer 04 have two more friendlies against first-class opponents this week. On Wednesday 7 August (kick-off 19:00 CEST), the Werkself visit Arsenal in London. Three days later, Real Betis are the visitors to the BayArena as part of the official season-opening event on Saturday 10 August (15:30 CEST). That's the final friendly before the competitive business begins.

Match stats:

RC Lens starting XI: Samba - Medina, Gradit, Khusanov - Aguilar, Thomasson, Mendy, Fulgini, Chavez - Said, Sotoca

Bayer 04: Kovar (Hradecky 46') - Kossounou (Natali 69'), Andrich (Tah 46'), Tapsoba (Hincapie 46') - Tella (Arthur 60'), Garcia (Puerta 77'), Xhaka (Hofmann 46'), Belocian (Hawighorst 77') - Adli (Hlozek 60'), Terrier (Wirtz 46') - Boniface (Schick 60')

Goals: 0-1 Terrier (6'), 1-1 Said (45'), 1-2 Wirtz (51'), 2-2 Gradit (84')

Yellow cards: Medina, Sotoca / Boniface, Hincapie

Referee: Marc Bollengier

Attendance: 38,223 (sellout) at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis