Bayer 04 started their second pre-season friendly with new signing Jarell Quansah making his debut, while the meeting acted as Bochum's dress rehearsal before the start of the Bundesliga 2 season next week. Patrik Schick had the first two attempts of the game, with Nathan Tella then having the goal at his mercy as Leverkusen went on the attack early on. After another nice combination, Jonas Hofmann's shot was blocked at the last moment.
It took another five minutes for Erik ten Hag's side to be rewarded for their efforts, when Hofmann buried a pinpoint cross from Alejandro Grimaldo in the 23rd minute. The over 1,500 travelling fans from Leverkusen were witnessing a good display from their team, who weren't really troubled defensively until the 39th minute, when Mats Pannewig's effort from close range produced a superb reflex save from Bayer 04 keeper Mark Flekken. The hosts enjoyed their best spell at the end of the first half, but the next goal was scored by Schick with a clinical finish in the first minute of stoppage time.
The restart saw debutants Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane introduced as well as Lukas Hradecky and Axel Tape. The first opportunity in the second period fell to Bochum substitute Ibrahim Sissoko, but the summer signing could only strike the outside of the post. With around an hour played, the string of substitutes began - and the game became rather flat as a result. Genuine goalscoring opportunities were in short supply until the final whistle, as the Bayer 04 defence stood firm and inflicted a first defeat of pre-season on Bochum.
The Werkself continue with their next friendly on Friday night, 1 August at 19:00 CEST away to Dutch top-flight side Fortuna Sittard.
Match stats:
Bochum: Horn - Passlack (Rösch 46'), Morgalla (Lenz 73'), Strompf (Loosli 73'), Vogt (Kleine-Bekel 73'), Wittek (Koscierski 61') - Pannewig (Onyeka 61'), Ibrahima Sissoko (Miyoshi 80'), Bero (Wätjen 61') - Hofmann (Ibrahim Sissoko 46'), Broschinski (Clairicia 62')
Bayer 04: Flekken (Hradecky 46') - Quansah (Hawighorst 73'), Andrich (Traoré 88'), Tapsoba [Tape 46') - Arthur (Culbreath 61'), Xhaka (Boniface 77'), Palacios (J. Mensah 63'), Grimaldo (Adli 63') - Hofmann (Sarco 75'), Tella (Maza 46') - Schick (Kofane 46')
Goals: 0-1 Hofmann (24'), 0-2 Schick (45'+1)
Yellow cards: Vogt / Kofane
Referee: Felix Weller (Osnabrück)
Attendance: 15,788 at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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