2–1 against Sevilla – Schick nets brace as Werkself kick off the season with a win

Compared with the 3–0 win at Rot-Weiss Essen, head coach Carles Martínez made five changes to his starting line-up for the season opener. Loïc Badé,Aleix Garcia, Montrell Culbreath, Afonso Moreira and Christian Kofane started in place of Tim Oermann, Robert Andrich, Lucas Vázquez, Farid Alfa-Ruprecht and Patrik Schick.

Werkself miss chance to level before half-time

In the squad for the first time, Miguel Gutiérrez watched from the bench as the Werkself were initially forced to put in a disciplined defensive performance against a spirited Spanish side. After eight minutes, Ibrahim Maza put the Black and Reds on the front foot, but his shot went narrowly wide. A little later, Sevilla’s Miguel Sierra showed greater precision, scoring from the edge of the box into the bottom-left corner to put the visitors ahead (16’).

The Werkself responded to going behind by taking control of the game – they came close to equalising with both a shot by Ezequiel Fernández (30’) and a Jeanuel Belocian header (42’). The two teams went into the break with the scoreline reading 1-0 to Sevilla.

Schick brace – Gutiérrez Assist on debut

Bayer 04 continued to enjoy more possession after the break, but the numerous Black and Red crosses often failed to find a taker in the Spanish penalty area. That was until the 58th minute, when Kofane headed just centimetres wide of the goal following a cross from Arthur. Eight minutes later, however, the ball finally found the back of the net: new signing Gutiérrez, who had just come on, found the next substitute, Schick, with a cross into the far corner on his debut, and Schick headed the ball into the visitors’ net (66’).

Now the Czech had got a taste for it and promptly doubled his tally. The Werkself put together a move through Victor Boniface and Martin Terrier into the penalty area – Schick finished with a first-time volley to make it 2–1 (79’). As substitute Malik Tillman initially narrowly missed the target himself (90'), but then blocked a visitors’ shot at the last moment (90+1’), the Black and Reds secured a fifth preseason friendly win, ensuring an all-round successful season launch.

next up: Off to England!

To round off the preseason, the Werkself are travelling to the UK for two high-profile friendlies. Martínez’s side will face Nottingham Forest on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 local time). This will be followed by a clash with Newcastle United on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 local time).

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Flekken – Arthur (Vázquez 62’), Badé (Oermann 62’), Tapsoba (Hawighorst 75’), Belocian (Gutiérrez 62’) – Garcia, Fernández (Andrich 62’, Boniface 75’) – Culbreath (Hofmann 36’), Maza (Tillman 46’), Moreira (Terrier 62’) – Kofane (Schick 62’)

Sevilla: Odysseas (Fran González 64’) – Iglesias, Sangante (Manu Bueno 72’, Carmona 80’), Kike Salas (Iker Muñoz 80’), Suazo (Manuel Ángel 80’) – Sierra (Vargas 72’), Guillèn, Agoumé (Castrín 64’), Oso (Díaz 46’) – Guridi (Sow 72’), Isaac (Peque 46’)

Goals: 0–1 Sierra (16'), 1–1 Schick (66'), 2–1 Schick (79')

Yellow cards: Fernández, Andrich – Agoumé, Sangante

Referee: Timo Gerach (Landau)

Attendance: 25,193 at the BayArena