Ten Werkself players are currently away on international duty – and coach Heiko Herrlich had to manage without Lars and Sven Bender plus stalwart Stefan Kießling, who is still recovering from a cold. Lucas Alario did play as the suspension for the Argentinian following his red card in the derby against FC Köln did not apply to this friendly. Goalkeeper Niklas Lomb shared the bench with four U19 players Max Schneider, Marius Samoura, Hajdar Shala and Chinedu Ekene. Two of the youngsters were in the starting eleven: Tim Stappmann in the back three and Herdi Bukusu in midfield. Bochum, under former Bayer 04 coach Robin Dutt, did not start with Sidney Sam and Robbie Kruse did not play as he is away with Australia on international duty.
The second division side, who endeavoured to compete, had the first chance at Kurtekotten with keeper Rambo Özcan forced into action after just four minutes. In contrast, Bayer 04 made full use of their first opportunity at the other end: Bukusu put Kevin Volland through and the Germany international, who became a father for the first time at the weekend and therefore missed the game in Cologne, tucked away a low shot with his right foot to give the Werkself the lead on 11 minutes. Shortly after that, Karim Bellarabi missed a good chance to double the lead. Bukusu was quick to make amends: The youngster made it 2-0 with a great volley after a Bochum player had blocked the first effort from Alario on 15 minutes. And the encounter continued to prove entertaining for the crowd: Johannes Wurtz benefited from confusion in the Bayer 04 defence and he left Özcan with no chance as his diagonal shot from the right found the far corner of the net to make it 2-1 and 21 minutes.
The game continued in the same fashion: A header from Simon Lorenz went just wide of the Leverkusen goal on 25 minutes, Leon Bailey fired a right-foot shot against the Bochum woodwork on the half-hour mark. Volland then set up Alario to restore the two-goal lead on 33 minutes. The Werkself kept up the pressure as they sought to exploit their advantage: Volland headed home a pinpoint cross from the right by Bailey and Bayer 04 with then 4-1 in the lead on 39 minutes – and that was the half-time score in a lively encounter.
After the break – now with Niklas Lomb in goal – Bayer 04 took a considerably more relaxed approach to proceedings. Heiko Herrlich brought on Hajdar Shala and Chinedu Ekene for Wendell and Bukusu on 63 minutes. Alario matched Volland as he netted his second goal: The central striker – picked out well by Bellarabi – curled the ball into the far corner to put Bayer 04 5-1 up on 70 minutes. Lomb was able to shine on 76 minutes as he kept out an effort from Hinterseer with a fine flying save. Marius Samoura replaced Volland two minutes later and Max Schneider came on for Bailey om 81 minutes. Kevin Stöger rounded off the scoring with a goal from a free kick for VfL with the match ending 5-2 in favour of Leverkusen.
Line-up in friendly:
Özcan (Lomb 46') – Stappmann, Frey, Wendell (Shala 63') – Yurchenko, Kohr – Bellarabi, Bukusu (Ekene 63'), Bailey (Schneider 81') – Volland (Samoura 79'), Alario
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Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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