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)
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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A successful fourth preseason friendly ahead of the start of the training camp: The Werkself secured a 3-0 victory over Rot-Weiss Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The goals in what was a commanding and dominant performance by Leverkusen from the outset were scored by Ibrahim Maza (8'), Patrik Schick from the penalty spot (23’) and, in the second half, Montrell Culbreath with a header (79’). The team set off for their training camp in Blankenhain in the Weimarer Land region after the game.
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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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Following Patrik Schick, Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Kerim Alajbegovic earlier this week, the next World Cup participant is back on the training ground in Leverkusen: On Thursday 30 July, Malik Tillman rejoined the squad, completing his first training session under head coach Carles Martínez.
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