"I saw some good work from my players today," declared Peter Bosz after his first test as the new head coach at Bayer 04. "There were a lot of new things for the lads this week and it was interesting to see how they put that into action in the game," said the 55-year-old. Four days after the Dutchman had taken up his new post, the game at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium was played behind closed doors on the advice of the police – only journalists were allowed access to the stands.
Led by skipper Charles Aránguiz, the Black and Reds took charge of the game from the start against the team lying fourth in the Dutch league in persistent rain – the only real chance for the visitors was thwarted by the alert Ramazan Özcan in a one-on-one with Twente's Aitor Cantalapiedra (23'). Otherwise the action was all in one direction. Attempts from Lucas Alario (9'), Sam Schreck (22') and Charles Aránguiz (27') were all kept out by Joel Drommel, performing well in the visitor's goal. Resistance was finally broken on 32 minutes with Alario converting from the penalty spot. The spot kick was awarded for a foul on Isaac Kiese Thelin. Kohr rounded off a committed first half with a left-foot shot into the right corner of the net to make it 2-0 at the break.
Bosz changed his whole line-up for the second half. Nevertheless, the Werkself continued to impress for much of the second 45 minutes but they were lucky when the Twente striker Jelle van der Heyde put his shot wide of the target with only Lukas Hradecky to beat (68'). At that point, Kevin Volland had already scored to make it 3-0 (58') after a move involving Karim Bellarabi and Wendell, with Kai Havertz (51') and Bellarabi (54') being denied by the visitor's keeper before that. Leon Bailey netted the fourth and final goal on 78 minutes with a close-range effort that completed probably the best move of the game that involved Julian Brandt and Bellarabi. "We were happy with the result but our opponents did have some chances. But we've trained hard and tried out a lot of new approaches. Of course, not everything can go right after such a short time," said Bosz in his assessment of the first performance of his new team.
Bayer 04: Özcan (Hradecky 46') – Weiser (L. Bender 46'), Jedvaj (Tah 46'), Dragovic (S. Bender 46'), Bednarczyk (Wendell 46') – Kohr (Brandt 46'), Aránguiz (Baumgartlinger 46'), Schreck (Havertz 46') – Kiese Thelin (Bellarabi 46'), Alario (Volland 46'), Paulinho (Bailey 46')
The next two Werkself friendlies will be played on Friday. The Werkself play Dutch top-flight side PEC Zwolle (14.00 CET, Ulrich Haberland Stadium) and then Preußen Münster. While the first match of the day is open to supporters (free of charge), the game against the third division side will again be held behind closed doors.
The Werkself conceded a goal at home for the first time since the beginning of January 67 minutes into the game against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday. Jarell Quansah levelled late on for the final score of 1-1 to secure a point and avoid a first home defeat in six games. Bayer 04 were very critical of their performance after the game. The Werkself review.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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From special edition jerseys to fan banners, the home game against Mainz 05 was all about the many Bayer 04 fan clubs. Accordingly, a fitting tribute to the long-standing Werkself supporters was not to be missed during half-time in the Bundesliga match. Fernando Carro, CEO, honoured the up to 50-year anniversaries of six fan clubs in front of the coaches' benches at the BayArena.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-1 draw against Mainz 05 on Matchday 24 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
A late goal secured a point for Bayer 04 at home to FSV Mainz 05 in a match that saw the Black and Reds dominant in the second half. Despite lots of possession, the Werkself initially found few gaps and fell behind after 67 minutes when Sheraldo Becker scored in a Mainz counter-attack. In the closing stages, Leverkusen threw everything forward once again and equalised through Jarell Quansah (88').
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