Youngest-ever starter for Bayer 04

Yesterday's start for Havertz sees him break the record set by former Bayer 04 pro Gonzalo Castro who was 17 years and nine months old in his first start in the 2004/2005 campaign. Castro played in a 1-0 defeat at Hamburg SV on 5 March 2005 and the Bayer 04 youngster Kai Havertz made his first appearance in a Werkself starting line-up at the tender age of 17 years and just five months.

First league appearance in Bremen

Kai Havertz played his part in winning the German U 17 league title in May of this year. Strong performances against Wolfsburg and Dortmund in the play-off games saw Bayer 04 lift the league title. From the summer, Havertz trained with the U19 team and increasingly with the senior squad. The youngster made his first Bundesliga appearance on 15 October in the 2-1 defeat at Werder Bremen when he came off the bench on 83 minutes to replace Charles Aránguiz. Other sub appearances followed against Lotte, Wolfsburg and Tottenham before the Bayer 04 head coach Roger Schmidt picked Havertz to start against Darmstadt.

Great praise from Schmidt

The highly-talented left footer displayed great confidence from the start, winning a lot of challenges and he was also involved in several dangerous goalmouth incident including courageous commitment in the move for the Aránguiz

goal to make it 3-1. Head coach Roger Schmidt was full of praise for the 17-year-old in his post-match analysis after the Darmstadt game: "He's a fully fledged player and we've seen his qualities in training. Now we've given him game time and seen that there's not much to worry him. He's an excellent footballer with good technique, lots of pace and is good in tackles and aerial challenges. He’s a very talented player in our squad but he still has a lot to learn. But players like Kai give me a lot of pleasure,” said an enthusiastic Schmidt.

Henrichs called up for Germany

Benjamin Henrichs has already made the leap from the U19 team to the Bundesliga squad. The 19-year-old, who made his first start for Bayer 04 in a 2-0 away win at Stuttgart in March 2016, has produced consistently impressive appearances in his 18 Bundesliga games and now joins Bernd Leno, Jonathan Tah, Kevin Volland and Julian Brandt in the Germany squad. "Benny produced a first-class display in London and people from the DFB were there to see it. He's very good in the tackle and has improved a lot in a short time. The call-up is a great signal and enormous motivation for Benny. Of course, all these talented youngsters have a long way to go with us but we have a great and exciting team," declared Roger Schmidt happy with the overall development.

Bayer 04 homegrown talents Benjamin Henrichs and Kai Havertz are just two examples of the good work performed by the Bayer 04 youth section in recent years. Saturday's line-up included two other players under 21 in Julian Brandt (20) and Jonathan Tah (20). They also played a large part in the winning conclusion to a successful week for Bayer 04.