“Even if it might have been one – I can’t fully understand the red card in a friendly. That ruined the game after 20 minutes. A yellow and a free kick would have been fair. Marcelinho Garcia (the Valencia coach, ed.) saw it the same way,” declared Peter Bosz baffled by the decision of the referee Sven Weschitzki to show Aleksandar Dragovic a red card for a professional foul. “I feel particularly sorry for the spectators that the game was no longer evenly balanced and therefore less exciting,” said the Werkself head coach who had to manage without Lars Bender (muscular problem), Mitchell Weiser (bruised foot), Joel Pohjanpalo (set back after ankle injury) plus Sven Bender and Karim Bellarabi (rested).
Kevin Gameiro opened the scoring for the team that finished fourth in La Liga last term with a penalty on nine minutes after he was brought down in the box by Kerem Demirbay – a debatable decision but the referee turned away the protests from the Werkself. As expected, Valencia provided tough opposition in the last pre-season friendly ahead of next Saturday’s DFB Cup tie in Aachen (15.30 CET, live text commentary and web radio on bayer04.de) and they put the Werkself under pressure with long balls.
After the dismissal of Dragovic (20’), the Bosz team quickly fought their way back into the game and competed on equal terms with the Spanish cup winners and Champions League starters. The reward came on 26 minutes: The Werkself were awarded a penalty for a handball and Kevin Volland tucked the ball into the bottom left corner of the net to make it 1-1.
The pace of the game slowed in the second half in the hot summer weather and neither side looked effective up front. Apart from the goal to make it 2-1 on 57 minutes scored by Valencia’s Gameiro with a long-range effort that beat Lukas Hradecky who did show what he could do on a number of occasions. Peter Bosz made five changes on the hour mark – including the introduction of Nadiem Amiri for his first game for Bayer 04. The fourth summer signing for the Werkself played well but was unable to change the outcome of the game played as part of the Bayer 04 season launch at the BayArena.
Bosz did not make too much of the defeat: “It’s true our friendly results were not satisfactory but I can see a positive development for us. I recognise our improvement and the confidence is there. We now have a week before the Aachen game – we have to make the most of it and continue to work hard,” said Bosz.
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Jedvaj (Retsos 20’; Stanilewicz 86’), Dragovic, Tah, Wendell – Baumgartlinger (Sinkgraven 61’), Demirbay (Aránguiz 61’) – Bailey (Amiri 61’), Havertz, Paulinho (Diaby 61’) – Volland (Alario 61’)
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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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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