"We were too nice against a men's team in the first half. I'm glad we didn't let our heads drop after going 2-0 down," was the assessment of Peter Bosz who was satisfied overall with the performance of his players. "That was a real friendly. For the first time in the pre-season we played against a team that pressed high. It was hard work," added the 56-year-old.
As was the case a week ago, in the double matchday at Kurtekotten with games against Sittard (0-1) and Eupen (3-4), the Werkself head coach split his squad up into two teams for the matches against Watford (1-2) and SD Eibar from Spain. The simple explanation: All his players were to get as much playing time as possible.
The 'B team’ was led onto the pitch by captain Karim Bellarabi and, playing against the team that finished twelfth in La Liga last term, they competed on equal terms with the opposition in spite of the Black and Reds having four U19 players in the starting eleven in Ayman Azhil, Jan Boller, Adrian Stanilewicz and Cem Türkmen. That did not make any difference for the first half an hour before Ekhi Bravo open the scoring for the visitors (33'). The Spaniards were lucky that the referee Wolfram Aufschnaiter failed to award a foul against the visitors after an incident in Ramazan Özcan's six-yard box.
The match became more disjointed in the second half as the flow of the game was interrupted by a lot niggling fouls as in the first half. After Lucas Alario hit the bar from a free kick (47'), the Spaniards made it 2-0 on 66 minutes – Asier Benito converted a cross from the right from close range. Peter Bosz's team refused to give up and Alario pulled a goal back after good work from Azhil. With five minutes to go, the Argentinian was fouled in the box – the 26-year-old picked himself up to convert the penalty with a shot into the bottom left corner to give the Black and Reds a draw at the end of the training camp.
The evening was less enjoyable for Joel Pohjanpalo. The 24-year-old Finn, who was out of action for a year with a persistent ankle injury, was hit on the site of the injury in a challenge after 20 minutes and he had to be substituted. Bosz was able to give the all clear after the game. "I don't expect him to be out for long," said the Dutchman before adding: "At the start of the week he felt a slight problem with his foot and we knew from the start that he would not play the full 90 minutes."
The Werkself return to Leverkusen tomorrow (Sunday). The pre-season will carry on there with the next friendlies on another double matchday on Sunday 28 July against Heracles Almelo and Vitesse Arnhem at the Kurtekotten Academy.
Bayer 04: Özcan – Boller (Lamti 83'), Retsos, Jedvaj, Sinkgraven – Stanilewicz, Türkmen – Bellarabi (Wolf 80'), Azhil, Pohjanpalo (Onur 22') – Alario
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