"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 beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
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Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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A rematch in Athens: On Wednesday, 18 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET), the Werkself face Greek double winners Olympiacos for the second time this season at the Karaiskakis Stadium. After the encounter in the league phase, it's now time for the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-offs. Ahead of the game, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about how his side will approach the clash, while captain Robert Andrich explained how the team will try to dampen the atmosphere in the stadium tomorrow.
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With the much-celebrated 2-1 derby win against 1. FC Köln, the Bayer 04 Women underlined their credentials as one of the top teams in the Bundesliga. Anyone wishing to support the Werkself in the stadium in the race for third place can now purchase tickets for the home match against FC Carl Zeiss Jena. Tickets are also still available for the upcoming clash against TSG Hoffenheim at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Sunday, 22 February. The latest information at a glance.
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