Werkself draw 1-1 at SC Verl

Roger Schmidt, who played for SC Verl from 1995 to 2002 and accordingly received a warm reception, started several of the youth players. Returnee Danny da Costa, new signing Sam Schreck and U17 player Kai Havertz were in the starting eleven. The first real chance of the game fell to the rather more experienced skipper Lars Bender but his effort was cleared (12’). Shortly after that it was André Ramalho who saved the day: Keeper Niklas Lomb was beaten all ends up but the Brazilian defender made a goal line clearance to frustrate SC Verl’s Marco Karminski (23’).

The game turned into a lively affair with the Werkself gradually gaining the upper hand without being able to find the back of the net. A Stefan Kießling header was saved just after the half-hour mark, Julian Brandt had a fine shot six minutes later and a left foot strike from Kyriakos Papadopoulos went just wide on 42 minutes. The two sides went into half time with the score at 0-0 in a match to mark the opening of the revamped Verler Sportclub Arena,

Nine changes at the break

Roger Schmidt shuffled his pack for the second half with only Lomb and da Costa staying on. New signing Kevin Volland made his debut for Bayer 04 Leverkusen – in the new black home kit. And, together with his strike partner Joel Pohjanpalo, who joined the club from Fortuna Düsseldorf, he caused a stir in the Verl penalty area straight away. A free kick from Volland went inches wide of the target (61’) and he instigated the next goalscoring opportunity himself: He fed Karim Bellarabi and his cross was headed just over the bar by Volland (69’).

Bayer 04 went even closer three minutes later when Robbie Kruse put Pohjanpalo through with the Finn shooting early only for his effort to rebound off the bar. Kevin Kampl, who played alongside youngster Atakan Akkaynak in central midfield, hit a decent shot on the turn on 73 minutes but his effort went unrewarded. The encounter ended as it had to: With minutes to play the referee awarded the hosts a penalty for a foul in the Leverkusen box and Sinisa Veselinovic stepped up to convert the spot kick to give Verl the lead on 86 minutes. The Werkself refused to give up and the SC Verl keeper Robin Brüseke turned a cross into his own net to make it 1-1 with a minute to play.

The next pre-season friendly is on Sunday at Delbrücker SC (15.00 CET).

Match stats:

Bayer 04 (first half): Lomb – da Costa, Ramalho, Papadopoulos, Abu Hanna – Bender, Havertz – Schreck, Öztunali, Brandt – Kießling.

Bayer 04 (second half): Lomb – da Costa, Cacutalua, Toprak, Hilbert – Kampl, Akkaynak – Bellarabi, Volland, Kruse – Pohjanpalo.

Goals: 1-0 Veselinovic (86’ pen.), 1-1 Brüseke (89’ o.g.).