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.
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.
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.
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
It couldn't have been any tighter! Despite winning four of six games in the online preliminary round in Showdown 1 of the VBL Club Championship 2026/27, Leverkusen eSports duo Marc and Sean Landwehr didn't make it through to the offline knockout round. Level on points (12) with seven other teams, Leverkusen were the only team with this points tally not to progress as they had the worst single-game record compared to their rivals.
Show more
Bayer 04 are away to Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb on Matchday 5 of the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League. The game kicks off on Thursday 26 November at 18:45 CET at the Maksimir Stadium. All the information on ticket sales.
Show more
It wasn’t just on the pitch that there was cause for celebration around the Werkself’s 2–1 home win against SC Freiburg. Plenty of happy faces could be seen near the dugouts at half-time too. Once again, CEO Fernando Carro, alongside former striker and club ambassador Stefan Kießling, paid tribute to eight supporters’ clubs celebrating up to their 30th anniversary on behalf of Bayer 04.
Show more
A disciplined and impressive team performance secured a 2–1 victory for the Werkself against league leaders SC Freiburg, who had remained unbeaten across all competitions until then; two players once again stood out at the BayArena: Artisic dribbler Ibrahim Maza scored Leverkusen’s first goal himself and set up the second, whilst goal-getter Patrik Schick had set up the equaliser and netted the winner. In doing so, the Czechia international set a remarkable club record. Both head coach Carles Martínez and the media were full of praise afterwards. Maza himself was also delighted with the growing rapport with “super striker” Schick: “The more we play together, the better we understand each other.” The Werkself’s comeback secured their fourth home win in their fourth home game of the season.
Show more
