Werkself beat Essen 3-0 in friendly ahead of preseason training camp

Head coach Carles Martínez made numerous changes to his starting line-up compared with the 4-0 win against KRC Genk; only Edmond Tapsoba, Jeanuel Belocian and Ezequiel Fernández started again. World Cup squad members Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Patrik Schick were in the starting XI for the first time during the current preseason.

Maza nets opener - Schick converts penalty

As in all their previous friendlies, the Werkself began the match in control and applied pressure from the kick-off. Maza provided the early reward on eight minutes; the Algerian had the ball fall at his feet following a shot from Schick that hit the left-hand upright, and he finished it off perfectly. Arthur narrowly missed scoring a quick second goal four minutes later from just outside the penalty area. Sixty seconds later came the second Black and Red shot against the woodwork: the crossbar shook following a powerful, deflected long-range effort from Fernández. The second goal finally came on 23 minutes from the penalty spot: Schick converted after a foul in the box on Lucas Vázquez. The rest of the first half was fairly quiet as Martínez continued to coach his team with great passion from the touchline. The teams went into the break with the score at 2–0.

The second half began with a few fresh faces, including Aleix Garcia and Christian Kofane coming on for Fernández and Schick. The Werkself made their first foray towards the RWE goal after the restart with a header from Kofane (50’) and a low drive from Robert Andrich (51’). At the other end, Flekken kept a clean sheet with a brilliant save (52'). A long-range effort from Vázquez, in turn, flew over the bar two minutes later (54').

Culbreath scores - Werkself secure impressive win

Just after the hour mark, Martínez made a few more substitutions; among those brought on were Loïc Badé and Afonso Moreira (62'). The latter first made his mark with a fine cross on 70 minutes, finding the head of Jonah Berghoff, who also come off the bench. Two minutes after that attempted header, Garcia tried a low shot from distance, but the ball rolled wide of the right-hand post (72'). The next attacking move then found the net: Once again, a cross from Moreira on the left flank sailed into the centre, where the onrushing – and also recent introduction – Montrell Culbreath met the ball and nodded it in (79'). For the number 42, these were his first minutes of play in this preseason following his participation in the U19 European Championship. The Werkself continued to play in a controlled manner right to the end, comfortably seeing out the 3–0 victory.

NEXT UP: Training camp in Weimarer Land

Once the final whistle has blown in the friendly against Essen, the Werkself headed off to the training camp in Blankenhain in the Weimarer Land region. The season then starts on Saturday 8 August (kick-off: 15:30 CEST) with a game against Sevilla at the season launch.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Flekken – Arthur (Domnic 62’), Oermann (Badé 61’), Tapsoba (Tape 46’), Belocian (Hawighorst 46’) – Andrich (Berghoff 62’), Fernández (Garcia 46’) – Vázquez (Culbreath 62’), Maza (Hofmann 34’, Poku 77’), Alfa-Ruprecht (Moreira 62’) - Schick (Kofane 46’, Boniface 77’)

Rot-Weiss Essen: Wienand (Gerres 81’) – Kostka (Vasic 81’), Bazzoli, Geschwill (Gnagnon 65’), Celebi – Reisig, Swajkowski – Obuz, Pesch, Dardari (Maleb 85’) - Cuber Potocnik

Goals: 1 –0 Maza (8'), 2–0 Schick (23’ pen.), 3–0 Culbreath (79')

Yellow cards: Berghoff , Badé – Swajkowski, Geschwill, Gnagnon, Obuz

Referee: Jan-Philipp Schöneseiffen