Before the game, Heiko Herrlich announced he was picking two different sides for the friendlies against Fürth and Münster to give all his players the chance to get time on the pitch. With the exception of second choice keeper Niklas Lomb, the team against the second division club included five U19 players on the bench in Jakub Bednarczyk, Hajdar Shala, Sam Schreck, Güven Yalcin and Atakan Akkaynak. Most of the action on the pitch took place in the Fürth half with Bayer 04 clearly on top – and the opener soon followed. With six minutes on the clock, a shot from Kevin Volland was blocked but Dominik Kohr was on hand to put the ball in the back of the net. After that, the goalscorer and Kai Havertz missed a number of decent chances to extend the lead but the Werkself were not sharp enough in converting those goalscoring opportunities. That failed to impress the coach. In the middle of the first half, Heiko Herrlich's voice was clearly to be heard throughout the Haberland Stadium as he shouted, "Blimey, put the ball in the net!"
Otherwise, the hosts looked impressive in the first outing of the New Year as they were alert in moving back and winning the ball, they passed accurately and patiently through their ranks and were able to up the tempo as required. After the restart, Kevin Volland and Admir Mehmedi missed good chances before Julian Brandt finally doubled the lead from close range on 66 minutes. Volland provided the assist. Mehmedi missed a final great chance to extend the winning margin from a few yards out just before the final whistle. Almost immediately, the visitors from Fürth netted a leveller through Cigerci in the final minute to make the score 2-1 with Bernd Leno unable to save a well-placed shot into the far corner. With the exception of one change - Jakub Bednarczyk replaced skipper Lars Bender with 15 minutes to play - Heiko Herrlich allowed all his players to go the full distance.
Bayer 04: Leno – Tah, S. Bender, Retsos – L. Bender (Bednarczyk 76’), Kohr, Baumgartlinger, Mehmedi – Havertz, Volland, Brandt
Like last year, Bayer 04 Women held their summer training camp in Rieden. Coach Roberto Pätzold gives his assessment of the time in the Upper Palatinate, discusses the integration of the 11 new players and the unusual team building measures, gives his thoughts on the friendly and looks ahead to the start of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga season in August.
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Just in time for the start of the summer holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Werkself will hold another open training session on Tuesday 21 July. The session at the BayArena is scheduled to start at 11:00 CEST and will again be available to watch in a live stream. The fans who are there can look forward to a very special surprise.
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Bayer 04 turned in a dominant performance in a 7-0 win against fifth-tier side Sportfreunde Baumberg in their first friendly ahead of the 2026/27 season. A brace from debutant Afonso Moreira (19', 27') either side of a Christian Kofane strike (23') put the Werkself 3-0 up in the first of the two 35-minute halves in Monheim am Rhein. After the break, Victor Boniface (49', 53'), Robert Andrich (56') and Nathan Tella (67') scored for the completely changed Leverkusen team. It was therefore a successful friendly debut for new head coach Carles Martínez and his team, although the hosts also had something to celebrate despite the defeat: the match marked the inauguration of Baumberg's new ground, the MEGA Stadion.
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Attention, Werkself fans: the new Away Matchday Collection is now available from the Bayer 04 online shop and the Fanwelt. It includes t-shirts, zip tops and jackets.
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