Bosz made six changes to the side that beat Union Berlin 3-1 in the DFB Cup quarter-finals. From the starting eleven on Wednesday night, Jonathan Tah, Daley Sinkgraven, Kerem Demirbay, Nadiem Amiri, Leon Bailey and Lucas Alario dropped out. They were replaced by Mitchell Weiser, Wendell, Karim Bellarabi, Paulinho, Moussa Diaby and Julian Baumgartlinger. The latter was the captain against Eintracht.
The first chance of the game fell to the visitors: Baumgartlinger slipped on the edge of his own penalty area allowing the Eintracht striker Daichi Kamada to shoot; Bayer 04 goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was in the right spot to make the save (2'). The first chance at the other end brought an early lead for the Werkself: Diaby put in a low cross from the left for today's striker Kai Havertz to force the ball into the back of the net from close range to make it 1-0 (4'). And the hosts continued to be effective: After 14 minutes, Paulinho set up Bellarabi – with another cross from the left – to double the lead.
Just after the half-hour mark there was bad news for the Werkself: First choice central defender Sven Bender suffered a knee injury and had to go off with the support of the medics. He was replaced by Jonathan Tah (35'). The first Bayer 04 shot that didn't end up in the back of the Eintracht net came from Bellarabi shortly after that. The Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp was able to make the save (36'). The Black and Reds went into half-time with a deserved 2-0 lead.
Neither coach made any changes at half-time. The Bayer 04 fans were ready to celebrate the third goal two minutes after the restart – however Diaby, the provider for Havertz, was offside. The next move saw the Black and Reds supporters cheer the third goal of the day; Paulinho scored to make it 3-0 (48').
Eintracht then had their best chance of the game: Martin Hinteregger was unmarked from a free kick but his shot rebounded off Hradecky and the Austria international was unable to connect properly and put his effort wide of the target (54'). Paulinho went one better at the other end to double his tally with a second goal within six minutes to put the Werkself 4-0 up (55'). After that, the Werkself were less adventurous but continued to dominate the game.
A shot from Filip Kostic with 15 minutes to play was the only goal threat posed by the visitors after the Paulinho double. Evan Ndicka attempted to score with a header but again this effort went wide of the Bayer 04 keeper Hradecky's goal (80'). The Werkself remained in charge as they secured the 4-0 win – and that was rightly celebrated by the fans after the final whistle.
The Werkself are in action again on Thursday night in the Europa League in the fourth of five double fixture weeks in succession. Bayer 04 are away to Rangers in the first leg of the Round of 16. The kick-off at Ibrox is at 21.00 CET.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Weiser, S. Bender (Tah 35'), Tapsoba, Wendell – Baumgartlinger, Aránguiz (Palacios 67') – Bellarabi, Paulinho, Diaby – Havertz (Bailey 62')
Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp – Toure, Ilsanker, Hinteregger, Ndicka – Kohr (Sow 57'), Hasebe, Rode – Kamada (Gacinovic 57'), Silva (Paciencia 74’), Kostic
Goals: 1-0 Havertz (4’), 2-0 Bellarabi (14’), 3-0, 4-0 Paulinho (48’, 55’)
Referee: Dr. Felix Brych (Munich)
Booked: Weiser
Attendance: 30,210 (sold out)
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
Show more
Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
Show more
In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
Show more
Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
Show more
No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
Show more
