
What an atmosphere at the former baseball stadium in St Petersburg/Tampa. Spectators streamed to the home ground of the Tampa Bay Rowdies – above all, to support their superstar Chicharito. The Mexican played in the first half with Schmidt changing the whole team at the break with the exception of goalkeeper Ramazan Özcan. Karim Bellarabi, who has completed all the training sessions to date at the training camp in Orlando, was not in the squad.
Behind at the break
The steel of the South Americans was evident from the start. "We've seen that in the past two years: They quickly change to competitive mode in friendlies like this," said Schmidt. After intensive sessions over the past five days, his team initially found it difficult to play their normal game. Estudiantes took the lead on 30 minutes through Elias Umeres. "The opposition sat back very deep after that," said Schmidt.
Bayer 04 had a chance to level before the break. The referee awarded a penalty for a handball in the box and the fans cried out for Chicharito to take it. He confidently stepped up but his shot was saved by the Argentinian keeper. Juan Sebastián Verón (41) spent the 90 minutes on the bench for Estudiantes who were reduced to ten men just before half-time when Rodrigo Brana was dismissed for a serious foul in midfield
Schreck nets first goal
The Werkself started the second half with ten fresh players and the extra man. That included U19 players Sam Schreck and Atakan Akkaynak who both livened up Leverkusen's game with Schreck scoring the first goal of 2017. The youngster coolly converted an excellent cross from Charles Aránguiz to level the scores at 1-1 on 71 minutes. Bayer 04 pressed for the winner but without reward. The match ended all square on 90 minutes with the game to be decided on penalties in accordance with the rules of the competition.
Stefan Kießling, Aránguiz and Julian Brandt all scored and, because Rambo made two saves, it fell to Aleksandar Dragovic to take the last shot of the match. "I chose the one corner and then placed my shot," he said. The ball was in the back of the net to secure an additional point for the Werkself in the Florida Cup.
The second game for Bayer 04 is in the night of Wednesday to Thursday (01.00 CET) against Atlético Mineiro.
Match stats:
Bayer 04 (First half): Özcan – Boeder, Jedvaj, Toprak, Wendell – Kampl, Yurchenko – Havertz, Calhanoglu – Chicharito, Pohjanpalo.
Bayer 04 (Second half): Özcan – da Costa, Dragovic, Tah, Henrichs – Aránguiz, Akkaynak – Schreck, Brandt – Mehmedi, Kießling.
Goals: 1-0 Umeres (33’), 1-1 Schreck (71’)


Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 4-0 win at SGS Essen on the 24th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
Show more
In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
Show more
Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
Show more
After matchday 31 and the 2-1 derby win in Cologne, one thing is certain: Bayer 04 will at least compete in the UEFA Europa League in the coming 2026/27 campaign. But the Werkself want more. Looking at the race for Champions League qualification and the remaining three league fixtures, including against direct rivals, bayer04.de outlines the possible scenarios in the season run-in.
Show more
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
Show more