There were a number of personnel changes for the Werkself this afternoon: Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky led the team out onto the pitch as captain. The central defenders in front of the Finn were Panagiotis Retsos and Odilon Kossounou this time, in part because Jonathan Tah is suspended for the DFB Cup tie at Lokomotive Leipzig next weekend. Charles Aránguiz was back in the starting line-up just a few days after his return from the Copa América along with the front two Lucas Alario and Patrik Schick. Florian Wirtz and Julian Baumgartlinger were sidelined with slight muscular problems.
It was the visitors who had the first chance at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium after just one minute; but the former Leverkusen U19 player Tim Stappmann only hit the left upright. At the other end, Karim Bellarabi had a clear-cut opportunity after a quick counter-attack but was unable to beat the Oberhausen keeper Justin Heekeren (2'). The first goal of the game was scored by the Werkself: Moussa Diaby raced away down the left flank and pulled the ball back from the byline into the box. Alario was able to turn the ball into the net for the opening goal (10'). And it was the Argentinian who doubled the advantage four minutes later. This time the assist came from Jeremie Frimpong with a low cross.
What Alario had achieved twice, evaded his strike partner Schick on 26 minutes – the Czech Republic striker put a shot just wide of the target. But the second striker for the Werkself found the back of the net just before half-time: After some great work from Kerem Demirbay, who beat a number of Oberhausen players in the centre of the park, Schick scored with a follow-up shot from three metres out to make it 3-0 (40'). Shortly after that the two teams went into the dressing rooms at the neighbouring BayArena.
With two new defenders – Mitchel Bakker and Tah replaced Daley Sinkgraven and Frimpong – the Werkself quickly conceded the first and only goal of the match at the start of the second half; Oberhausen’s Shaibou Oubeyapwa scored with a left-foot shot (47'). There were no further clear-cut chances until 72 minutes. Alario just failed to connect with a diagonal ball from Demirbay in front of goal. Bellarabi also missed out – our number 38 was denied by the RWO keeper Heekeren (75). It was all quiet after that at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium with the match ending in a 3-1 win for the Werkself.
The Seoane team play their first competitive match of the 2021/22 season in a weeks’ time. The opposition on Saturday 7 August are Lokomotive Leipzig in the first round of the DFB Cup. The kick-off is at 15.30 CEST and just over 1,000 Werkself fans will be able to follow their team to the Bruno Plache Stadium.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Frimpong (Tah 46'), Kossounou, Retsos, Sinkgraven (Bakker 46') – Bellarabi (N. Pesch 86’), Aránguiz, Demirbay, Diaby – Alario (Gedikli 75’), Schick (Sertdemir 69’)
RWO starting eleven: Heekeren – Obst, Stappmann, Öztürk, Odenthal – Oubeyapwa, Propheter, Holthaus, Heinz – Buckmaier, Kreyer
Goals: 1-0, 2-0 Alario (10’, 14’), 3-0 Schick (40’), 3-1 Oubeyapwa (47’)
Booked: Bellarabi - Dorow
Referee: Dr. Robert Kampka (Mainz)
Attendance: 400 (sell-out) at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium
Bayer 04 entertain third-placed VfB Stuttgart in the penultimate Bundesliga home game. The match at the BayArena is today Saturday 27 April (kick-off: 18.30 CEST/live on Sky and on Werkself Radio). The latest information on the game, with fans again asked to follow traffic information, is here in the news in brief.
Show moreAfter three consecutive weeks of playing midweek, the Werkself have been preparing for the top-of-the-table clash against VfB Stuttgart over the past few days. Ahead of the home game on Saturday 27 April (kick-off 18:30 CEST, live on Sky), head coach Xabi Alonso praised the third-placed visitors and gave an update on the state of the pitch as well as personnel.
Show moreThere's no question: VfB Stuttgart are one of the biggest surprises of this season and have delighted their fans with exciting, successful attacking football. After suffering a rare defeat at Bremen last weekend, third-placed VfB are looking to get back to winning ways in this Saturday's big match against the Werkself (kick-off 18:30 CEST). The visitors will be without their playmaker in midfield, though. A look at our next opponents...
Show moreWhether at school, in grassroots sports or at the football stadium – racism and discrimination of all kinds are still prevalent in our society. For this reason, Bayer 04 has been organising preventative school workshops on the subject of racism for many years. This week, one of these workshops took place at the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium not far from the BayArena as part of the Wiesdorf district matchday - and with a prominent guest: Werkself star Jonathan Tah worked intensively with the pupils on the topic. The German champion and international also spoke about his personal experiences with racism.
Show moreBayer 04 aren’t just the new champions of Germany but are also leading the way in engaging young fans after becoming the first Bundesliga club to release its own Pixi children’s book. Captain Lukas Hradecky and Josip Stanisic presented the 24-page publication entitled ‘Ein neuer Löwe für die Werkself’ (A new lion for the Werkself) at a reading for children in the BayArena's Schwadbud.
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