With the game coming just a few days after the majority of the squad’s international players returned from their break, head coach Gerardo Seoane selected a team consisting mostly of the players who had been part of pre-season from the start. Edmond Tapsoba and Charles Aranguiz were the only two players to begin who had been away with their national teams. There was also good news with Fosu-Mensah and Karim Bellarabi involved after their injuries at the end of last season. Madi Monamay, Aourir and Bravo also featured in the starting XI.
It took just three minutes at the IMS Arena in Velbert for Bravo to claim the honour of Bayer 04’s first goalscorer of the new campaign. The Spanish youngster took advantage of a ricochet on the edge of the box to finish into the bottom left corner. And it was 2-0 only six minutes after that when an excellent passing move ended with Bellarabi having an effort from right of the box, before youth player Aourir put away the rebound after Duisburg goalkeeper Maximilian Braune spilled the ball.
Among the 2,011 fans in attendance was Moussa Diaby, who had just returned from his summer break, and they got to see a Werkself side dominating the play and making it 3-0 on 22 minutes when Fosu-Mensah finished from a knockdown in the six-yard box. Andrey Lunev was called into action for the first time a couple of moments later when former Leverkusen man Kolja Pusch had an effort from range. The Bayer 04 goalkeeper pushed the shot wide. Seoane’s side continued to control proceedings, but it was Duisburg who got the next goal when Julian Hettwer made it 3-1 with a finish just under the crossbar. However, the Werkself would go into the break with the three-goal lead restored when Sinkgraven put away Bellarabi’s square ball three minutes later.
Seoane made six changes for the second half, including Jeremie Frimpong, who had also missed the end of last season through injury like Fosu-Mensah and Bellarabi. The action had barely resumed before Bravo bagged two more goals, the 17-year-old making it 5-1 on 49 minutes with a thumping effort from 18 yards and then 6-1 in the 50th minute with tap-in.
Seoane made a further five changes midway through the second half as the game petered out, bar a few well worked attacks by Bayer 04. It meant the first friendly of 2022/23 pre-season ended in a comprehensive 6-1 win for the Werkself against Duisburg.
You can re-watch the game on YouTube
Leverkusen’s next pre-season fixture comes against Greek giants Panathinaikos during the training camp in Salzburg. The game kicks off at 17:00 CEST this Sunday, 17 July.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Lunev (Lomb 46’) – Fosu-Mensah (Frimpong 46’), Monamay (Kossounou 46’), Tapsoba (Hincapie 46’), Sinkgraven (Bakker 65’) – Andrich (Azhil 65’), Aránguiz (Palacios 46’) – Bellarabi (Kanga 46’), Demirbay (Sertdemir 65’), Aourir (Jung 65’) – Bravo (Pohjanpalo 65’)
Duisburg: Braune – Bitter, Senger, Fleckenstein (Ndualu 72’), Kölle (Mogultay 60’) – Bakalorz, Stierlin (Ajani 60‘) – Hettwer, Pusch (Jander 60’), Bakir – Wild (Gembalies 72’)
Goals: 1-0 Bravo (3’), 2-0 Aourir (9’), 3-0 Fosu-Mensah (22’), 3-1 Hettwer (41’), 4-1 Sinkgraven (44’), 5-1 Bravo (49’), 6-1 Bravo (50’)
Referee: Nico Fuchs (Odenthal)
Attendance: 2,011 (IMS Arena, Velbert)
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