Compared to the 3-1 Bundesliga win at Wolfsburg on Saturday, head coach Kasper Hjulmand made three changes to the line-up as Jarell Quansah, Jeanuel Belocian and Christian Kofane started in place of Jonas Hofmann, Edmond Tapsoba (suspended for yellow cards) and Robert Andrich, who was suspended after receiving a red card in the previous win in Lisbon.
Man City started strongly and had their first chance through Nathan Aké, but Mark Flekken made a strong reflex save. Five minutes later, the Werkself also had their first dangerous chance. After a nice move down the left, Ernest Poku was blocked at the last moment. Even though City had over two-thirds of possession in the early stages, Bayer 04 continued to threaten, like in the 18th minute when the lightning-fast Poku was caught by Rayan Aït-Nouri just on the edge of the penalty area. Leverkusen's next attack was successful, though. Ibrahim Maza sent the ball in from the right, a clearance attempt fell at the feet of Grimaldo, who finished on his strong left foot into the far corner to make it 1-0 with 23 minutes gone. The pressure from the Premier League giants increased again, but the black and red defence held firm. Flekken made two more outstanding saves before the break to keep the narrow lead intact.
The English side pressed more in the second half, but once again the Werkself struck with clinical precision. Maza sent the ball forward from the halfway line towards the penalty spot, where Schick broke free from his marker and cleverly nodded the ball into the far corner for 2-0, big celebration in the atmospheric away section and absolute silence in the home section of the City of Manchester Stadium. However, the game was far from over, as everyone supporting Bayer 04 knew. City picked up the pace again. Just how dissatisfied their coach Pep Guardiola was with his team's performance was evident in the fact that the Spaniard had already used up his quota of substitutions after just over an hour. After Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Nico O'Reilly came on at the start of the second half, Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki also joined the fray. After 70 minutes, Haaland had his first chance, but the Norwegian striker hadn't reckoned with Flekken!
Into the final quarter of an hour, Hjulmand made his first substitution, bringing on Nathan Tella to inject some fresh legs. This match had long since become a football thriller. City attacked again and again. The Werkself defended passionately, throwing everything they had at it. Flekken made brilliant saves from a Cherki free-kick and a Poku clearance. Shortly afterwards, the final whistle blew and the black and red party on and off the pitch really began.
Next up for the Werkself is Saturday’s big Bundesliga match against Borussia Dortmund at the sold-out BayArena (18:30 CET). Just three days later, the opponent will once again be BVB, but this time away from home and in the DFB Pokal round of 16 on Tuesday, 2 December (21:00 CET).
Match stats:
Manchester City: Trafford - Khusanov (Cherki 65'), Stones, Aké, Aït-Nouri (O'Reilly 46') - Reijnders, Gonzalez, Lewis (Foden 46') - Bobb (Doku 46'), Marmoush (Haaland 65'), Savinho
Bayer 04: Flekken - Quansah, Badé, Belocian - Poku, Garcia, Maza, Grimaldo - Tillman, Kofane (Tella 82') - Schick
Goals: 0-1 Grimaldo (23'), 0-2 Schick (54')
Yellow cards: Grimaldo, Kofane
Referee: Joao Pinheiro (Portugal)
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Due to the last-minute postponement of the Bundesliga match between Hamburg and the Werkself on Tuesday, 13 January, Bayer 04 will reimburse the ticket price to all 3,500 fans who had already travelled to Hamburg as a sign of appreciation. The tickets remain valid for the rescheduled match (date not yet set).
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Bundesliga fixture between Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 Leverkusen has been postponed at short notice.
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Bayer 04 face Hamburger SV for the first time in almost eight years. Although the Hanseatic city team are often below par on the road, they are regularly in top form in front of their own fans. In particular, 18-year-old shooting star Luka Vuskovic is proving to be a real bonus for Merlin Polzin's team, both in attack and defence. However, that should not scare the Werkself: Not only was the last defeat against the newly promoted team 17 games ago, but Kasper Hjulmand's players are in with a chance of securing their fifth win in six games against HSV. Today’s matchday news.
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