Werkself win Supercup 2024 on penalties

Compared with last weekend's friendly against Real Betis at the season launch (1-1), head coach Xabi Alonso made five changes to his starting line-up: Nathan Tella and Jeanuël Belocian played on the flanks in place of Arthur and Alejandro Grimaldo, Aleix Garcia started in midfield - with Robert Andrich playing in a back three where he replaced Jonathan Tah, Amine Adli and Martin Terrier came in for Jonas Hofmann and Florian Wirtz up front.

two goals, one red card

Leverkusen were on the front foot from the start: A few moments after the kick-off, Terrier went down the left wing and the VfB keeper Alex Nübel came out to intercept but the Frenchman was quicker to the ball and he passed to teammate Adli but he was offside. Bayer 04 continued in the same vein pressing the Stuttgart team as they looked to get forwards. The double winners then reaped an early reward: In the eleventh minute Garcia regained the ball from a cleared corner and switched play from left to right with a diagonal ball to Edmond Tapsoba. The defender rose and headed the ball goalwards from a tight angle with Victor Boniface turning the ball over the line from inches out – 1-0 to Bayer 04. But Stuttgart were quick to reply: Enzo Millot hit a low shot from the edge of the box into the net to cancel out the Leverkusen lead (15').

The game was wide open after that with chances for both teams: Boniface had a good solo move (23') beating several players in the penalty area, a minute later Ermedin Demirovic hit the post at the other end from a counter-attack. Terrier caught Demirovic on the ankle in midfield on 37 minutes and the new signing was shown a red card. The Werkself had a player less on the pitch from that point. VfB exploited that with a double chance for Chris Führich with Millot hitting the bar in the follow-up – but the ball failed to cross the line (42'). The two teams went into half-time with the scores level.

Schick hits back with late leveller

The Black and Reds started brightly in the second half: Granit Xhaka headed the ball onto Tella in plenty of space on the right and he picked out Adli in the middle but the number 21 put his effort on the turn just wide of the target (56'). The visitors had more possession as the game went on but Leverkusen proved to be smart in defending despite being a man down – up to the 63rd minute: Within moments of coming on, substitute Franz Krätzig crossed into the penalty area for fellow recent substitute Deniz Undav to score at the far post to make it 2-1 for VfB (63'). Undav had the next big chance following a mistake by Tapsoba in his own box but Piero Hincapie intervened with a brilliant challenge to deny him (75'). The Werkself refused to give in and they fought back: There was a triple chance for Patrik Schick, Belocian and Jeremie Frimpong but none of them found the back of the net (79’). With two minutes of the 90 to play, as happened last season, Schick scored late on when Alejandro Grimaldo put him through in the VfB penalty area to secure a deserved leveller at 2-2. The scoreline remained the same so the Supercup went down to a penalty shootout.

Hradecky saves, Bayer 04 win!

Vom Punkt für den VfB traten zuerst Millot und Demirovic an. Beide Stuttgarter trafen souverän, Schick und Grimaldo zogen jeweils für Schwarz-Rot nach. Den ersten Fehler leistete sich dann VfB-Schütze Nummer drei Frans Krätzig, seinen Schuss ins rechte untere Eck entschärfte Hradecky. Aleix Garcia brachte im Anschluss Bayer 04 in Führung. Undav und Tapsoba zogen nach. Stuttgarts zuletzt angetretener Spieler Silas verzog seinen Schuss dann aber weit über das Tor - damit gewann die Werkself mit 4:3 i. E. den Supercup 2024. Der Traumstart in die neue Saison war damit perfekt!

outlook: Bundeslia opener at Gladbach

The Werkself open the 2024/25 Bundesliga season on Friday 23 August: Leverkusen are away to Borussia Mönchengladbach on matchday one. The kick-off at Borussia Park is at 20.30 CEST.

Match stats

Bayer 04: Hradecky – Tapsoba, Andrich (Schick 73'), Hincapie – Tella (Frimpong 73'), Xhaka, Garcia, Belocian (Grimaldo 84’) – Adli (Wirtz 73’), Terrier - Boniface (Tah 40’)

VfB Stuttgart: Nübel – Stenzel (Keitel 83'), Rouault, Chabot, Mittelstädt (Krätzig 63') - Karazor, Stiller (Undav 63'), Leweling (Silas 63'), Führich (Diehl 77'), Millot - Demirovic

Goals: 1-0 Boniface (11’), 1-1 Millot (15’), 1-2 Undav (63’), 2-2 Schick (88’)

Penalty shootout: 0-1 Millot, 1-1 Schick, 1-2 Demirovic, 2-2 Grimaldo, 3-2 Garcia, 3-3 Undav, 4-3 Tapsoba

Yellow cards: Alonso (coach), Xhaka, Tapsoba, Boniface, Wirtz – Stiller, Demirovic, Millot, Stenzel, Chabot

Red card: Terrier

Referee: Tobias Stieler (Hamburg)

Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena