Head coach Gerardo Seoane made two changes to his team from last week’s 3-0 win at Mainz. Both were enforced, with Piero Hincapie and Mitchel Bakker suspended. Odilon Kossounou and Daley Sinkgraven came in. But before the action got under way, there was a minute’s silence at the BayArena – and at all other grounds around the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 this matchday – to mark the 50th anniversary of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
As in Mainz, Bayer 04 were playing in all black and starting with a back three, with Jeremie Frimpong and Sinkgraven the wing-backs. After an even start to proceedings, it was the first attack of note that brought the opening goal as Kossounou got into the box down the right and squared the ball, where Demirbay tucked away from close range among the bodies with 16 minutes gone. The next attack also came from Leverkusen, but Schick only struck the side netting, before he was also denied by Mark Flekken on 35 minutes. Moussa Diaby was also thwarted by the Freiburg goalkeeper shortly before the break, so it remained 1-0 at half-time.
The second half couldn’t have got off to a much worse start for Bayer 04. Matthias Ginter first headed in the equaliser from a Vincenzo Grifo corner three minutes after the restart before Michael Gregoritsch tapped home a Woo-yeong Jeong square ball to put Freiburg ahead on 51 minutes. It demanded a response from the Werkself, so Seoane sent on Sardar Azmoun, Charles Aranguiz and new signing Hudson-Odoi just after the hour. And those changes paid off.
It was the England international’s cross from the left that found Schick in the middle, and he headed home a deserved equaliser with 65 minutes on the clock. Leverkusen had fought back after a brief wobble and – like before half-time – were throwing themselves into challenges. However, Lukas Hradecky & Co. were hit with another setback as Freiburg put away just their third telling opportunity of the game when Ritsu Doan forced the ball home. Even with 18 minutes still to play, there was no way back again for Bayer 04 as they remain without a point at home this season after three games.
The Werkself now face back-to-back away games. First they kick off the new Champions League season away at Belgian champions Club Brugge on Wednesday, 7 September. They’re back in Bundesliga action at Hertha Berlin just three days later.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Kossounou, Tah (Aranguiz 60'), Tapsoba – Frimpong, Andrich (Amiri 78'), Palacios (Hudson-Odoi 60'), Sinkgraven (Fosu-Mensah 78') – Demirbay (Azmoun 60') – Diaby, Schick
Freiburg: Flekken – Ginter, Lienhart, Gulde (Doan 46') – Sildillia, Keitel (Eggestein 46'), Höfler, Günter – Sallai (Jeong 9'), Gregoritsch (Schlotterbeck 79'), Grifo (Petersen 79')
Goals: 1-0 Demirbay (16'), 1-1 Ginter (48'), 1-2 Gregoritsch (51'), 2-2 Schick (65'), 2-3 Doan (72')
Yellow cards: Tah, Amiri – Höfler, Gregoritsch
Referee: Sascha Stegemann
Attendance: 26,853 at the BayArena
With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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You have voted – your ‘Team of the Quarter-Century’ has been decided! This historic selection, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2024, features honorary captains, Bundesliga champions, double winners and Champions League finalists. Edmond Tapsoba is the only player from the current Bayer 04 squad to make it into the starting XI, while his team-mate Patrik Schick is on the bench. Simon Rolfes, the current managing director sport, is also in the lie-up. A truly special team that brings together a quarter of a century of Bayer 04 history – and has left a decisive mark on the club.
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