Head coach Carles Martínez made two changes from the 4-0 win at home to Union Berlin, with Moussa Diaby replacing Malik Tillman in attacking midfield for his second full debut, and Christian Kofane starting up front in place of Patrik Schick.
The meeting with the league leaders, who scored seven goals across the first two matchdays, began evenly with attacking incidents at both ends. Ibrahim Maza had the first attempt on nine minutes, before Afonso Moreira warmed the gloves of goalkeeper Finn Dahmen (15'). The Werkself were on top and got their reward in the 18th minute, when Kofane brought down a long ball, dribbled past his opponent and finished coolly. The goalmouth action died down after that, but the hardness of the tackles remained. The game became rather stop-start as a result and so Leverkusen went in at half-time with a narrow but deserved lead.
The second half started with an early setback from a Bayer 04 point of view, with Michael Gregoritsch firing through the legs of Mark Flekken to make it 1-1 in the 50th minute. Augsburg were in the ascendancy now and completed the turnaround five minutes later: Gregoritsch was unmarked at the far post from a corner and headed the hosts in front. Another five minutes later, Maza found the net at the other end but referee Daniel Siebert disallowed the goal for a foul in the build-up following a video review. It was a frantic period of play, in which Martínez brought on debutant Guéla Doué and goal-getter Patrik Schick.
The Werkself kept plugging away and kept shooting, but it wouldn't initially fall for them. Schick's effort on 75 minutes was blocked, like many others - the Black-and-Reds registered a total of 25 attempts. They looked to be heading for a defeat until Schick netted Leverkusen's second goal with a flick in the 89th minute, and despite trying to find a winner in stoppage time, it finished 2-2.
Bayer 04 are back in action on home soil twice in the coming week. First they begin their Europa League campaign with the home game against Slovenian side NK Celje on Wednesday 16 September (kick-off 21:00 CEST), before welcoming RB Leipzig to the BayArena on Sunday 20 September (15:30 CEST).
Match stats:
Augsburg: Dahmen - Banks, Matsima, Brackelmann - Wolf (Kömür 77'), Massengo (Keitel 85'), Rieder, Behrens - Ibrahimovic (Claude-Maurice 58'), Fellhauer (Seol 77') - Gregoritsch (Ribeiro 85')
Bayer 04: Flekken - Quansah (Doué 63'), Tapsoba, Medina (Vázquez 85'), Gutiérrez - Fernández (Tillman 76'), Garcia - Diaby, Maza, Moreira (Terrier 76') - Kofane (Schick 63')
Goals: 0-1 Kofane (18'), 1-1 Gregoritsch (50'), 2-1 Gregoritsch (55'), 2-2 Schick (89')
Yellow cards: Banks, Baum (head coach) / Doué, Martínez (head coach)
Referee: Daniel Siebert
Attendance: 29,745 at the WWK Arena
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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