In the absence of international stars Julian Brandt, Bernd Leno, Panos Retsos, Julian Baumgartlinger, Admir Mehmedi and Joel Pohjanpalo plus the injured Sven Bender (fractured ribs), Jonathan Tah (back problems) and Benjamin Henrichs (viral infection), Heiko Herrlich, as expected, fielded players who have not had much, if any, time on the pitch recently. That meant the side facing the team lying twelfth in the second division included Stefan Kießling, André Ramalho, Vladlen Yurchenko, Marlon Frey plus recently recovered Tin Jedvaj in the starting eleven. For the 21-year-old defender, who suffered a hairline shin fracture at the start of the pre-season, it was his first outing under Herrlich. "The main point today was to give a couple of players the chance to play. You could see they aren't quite up to speed in terms of rhythm but the lads gave their all. It was a great friendly for them today," said the Bayer 04 coach after the game in assessing the performance of his squad players.
His team needed time to get into the game in cool autumn temperatures at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium and they were caught out after just ten minutes: Duisburg's Moritz Stoppelkamp took advantage of the Werkself losing the ball in midfield as he fired in an unstoppable shot from 25 yards out to beat Rambo Özcan and make it 1-0 for the visitors. The almost at full strength MSV team under coach Ilia Gruev became more ambitious after taking the lead while the Werkself continued to struggle. The only danger in the Duisburg penalty area came on 16 minutes from Kai Havertz from a corner. At the other end, the Bayer 04 keeper Özcan did well to prevent his team going 2-0 down in a one-on-one with Stoppelkamp on 19 minutes.
In front of a crowd of 400, Bayer 04 then found their way into the game – but Stefan Kießling, Dominik Kohr, Karim Bellarabi and Vladlen Yurchenko were unable to find the back of the net. The equaliser for the Werkself came from captain Stefan Kießling when he demonstrated his qualities as a poacher to tap in a rebound from a header by Lucas Alario on 35 minutes. However, the 1-1 scoreline did not last long: Just five minutes later Duisburg's Stanislav Iljutcenco put the second division side back in front with a close-range header from a Stoppelkamp cross on 41 minutes. The Werkself went into the half-time break 2-1 down.
The Werkself showed a different side of their game in the second half with a tough and aggressive approach – above all, it was the substitute Leon Bailey who livened up the attack. Herrlich's team camped in the Duisburg half and succeeded in creating one chance after the next. It was not long before their efforts were rewarded: A Kießling pass to strike partner Alario split open the defence and the Argentinian laid the ball off to Bellarabi who netted a deserved equaliser on 70 minutes to make it 2-2. Five minutes later, Bailey scored from a free kick from 22 yards out to put Bayer 04 3-2 up in a fair reflection of the chances created. But the visitors hit back out of the blue to level the scores at 3-3 on 82 minutes with a goal from Borys Tashchy.
The Werkself refused to give up and pressed forward in search of a winner. Unfortunately that wasn't to be – partly because Kießling hit the post with a fine cross-goal header on 84 minutes. "I wasn't at all happy with the first half performance. We lacked passion and intensity in our game. Football is still a battle of strength and that's why I chose to use sharper words at the break. But then we had a good response in the second half. Of course, it's annoying to concede the equaliser – above all because we wanted to win a game like that. I think if we’d played both halves like we did the second then we would have won the game," said Herrlich not looking to overrate the friendly.
Bayer 04: Özcan (Lomb 46’) – Frey, Ramalho, Jedvaj, Wendell (Aránguiz 60’) – Kohr, Havertz – Bellarabi, Yurchenko (Bailey 60’) – Alario, Kießling
A fresh look for the BayArena: The Bayer 04 stadium will have new seating in the form of folding seats for the 2026/27 campaign that will ensure significantly improved seating comfort and simplified movement within the rows of seats. As part of routine replacement after 17 years, fans of the Werkself were able to purchase the existing seats, used to witness the first German league title in the club's history. In addition, a large proportion of the seats will be donated to charitable projects, primarily in the local region. Bayer 04 fans can look forward to new, functional folding seats for the season opener at the beginning of August - still in the club colours of black and red, of course. A glimpse at the BayArena during the refurbishment.
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On Monday evening, 8 June, around 250 people came to the Bürgerhaus Baumberg at the invitation of Bayer 04 to find out details of the new plans for the campus on Alfred-Nobel-Straße at an information event. More compact, greener and with many advantages for Monheim am Rhein - those are the aims. There were lively discussions for around three hours and some misunderstandings were cleared up.
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Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and Bayer 04 loanee Francis Onyeka are part of Germany's final squad for the U19 European Championships this summer. The tournament is in Wales from 24 June to 12 July.
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When Malik Tillman arrived at Bayer 04 Leverkusen from PSV Eindhoven last summer, he did more than just add attacking midfield strength to the team — he reconnected the club with a unique and understated American lineage that stretches back more than three decades.
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Bayer 04 are away to third-division club SV Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round of the 2026/27 DFB Pokal. That was the outcome of the draw on Saturday night, 6 June, at the German Football Museum in Dortmund. The Werkself first round tie will be played between 21 and 24 August. The exact date has yet to be finalised.
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