Heavy hailstones and a storm meant a 40-minute interruption to the first half in Großaspach before the real action got under way, led once again by Patrik Schick. The Czech striker headed in Amine Adli’s cross with half an hour played, putting the Werkself in control. Their position was strengthened in the second half when the hosts, who hadn’t always sat back, self-destructed with two red cards. Coach Erik ten Hag introduced a number of debutants as the game wore on, with Ernest Poku setting up Arthur for the second after 74 minutes. Christian Kofane marked his first competitive outing for Leverkusen by slotting in the third, before Alejandro Grimaldo put away a penalty in the closing minutes to wrap things up. You can read the full match report HERE.
Ten Hag appeared content but still sees plenty of areas for improvement going into the season. “At the end of the day, it’s a deserved win. We had good spells in the game but still have the potential to improve a few things,” said the Dutchman, who also had words of praise for his new additions: “They’ve integrated well. We can build on this.”
As for Arthur, he was beaming when talking to the media after scoring his first Werkself goal. “I can’t explain this feeling. I’ve worked a lot and waited a long time for this moment,” the Brazilian excitedly exclaimed. He thanked the 2,500 travelling fans for their vocal support on this “special day” for him. New club captain Robert Andrich added: “It’s very important to be into the next round. But we can still adapt our style of play a bit.”
“A lacklustre win for Ten Hag and Leverkusen” was the headline in the Rheinische Post, who also highlighted the displays of debutant Poku and other attackers. The Leverkusener Anzeiger led with “Bayer turn it on after the storm”. kicker echoed the thoughts of Ten Hag and Andrich in seeing room for improvement: “The Werkself revealed issues at Sonnenhof Großaspach but then turned it on after two red cards for the fourth-tier side”.
The first competitive fixture of the season saw several debuts for the Werkself with Mark Flekken, Jarell Quansah, Ibrahim Maza, Axel Tape, Kofane and Poku all getting their first real outing in Leverkusen colours. Kofane opened his scoring account and Poku got a maiden assist, after Arthur had scored his first goal in his 34th game for the club.
Grimaldo’s introduction at half-time saw him reach 100 competitive appearances for Leverkusen. His penalty took his tally for the Werkself to 17 goals and 33 assists, meaning he boasts a remarkable return of contributing a goal every other game in black and red.
Bayer 04 dominated the ball in Baden-Württemberg with 69 percent possession, plus a pass completion of 91 percent. It was almost even in terms of challenges against the amateur club, but a late flurry of attacking activity took the Werkself’s shot count to 20 compared to 12 for Großaspach.
And it wouldn’t be a Pokal fixture without another record as Bayer 04 extended their competition-best run of scoring to 37 straight cup games.
The Werkself kick off their Bundesliga campaign next weekend as Hoffenheim come to the BayArena on Saturday (3.30pm CEST). Their first away game is the same time the following week at Werder Bremen.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 0-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of the women's DFB-Pokal 2026/27
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“As far as mentality and determination are concerned, we have nothing to reproach ourselves for,” Robert Andrich said up after the first home defeat for the Werkself this term. In terms of their play, too, the Black and Reds put in a respectable performance for long stretches of this intense and physical match, outperforming VfB Stuttgart in most areas. It was only in terms of efficiency in front of goal that the Swabians had the edge over the Werkself. Head coach Carles Martínez wants to learn from this so that, in future, they can “win this sort of match too”. The Werkself review.
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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 working 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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Having previously recorded six consecutive home wins across all competitions, Bayer 04 suffered their first home defeat of 2026/27 as they went down 4-2 to VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Matchday 8. The visitors capitalised on their first two chances to score, with Ermedin Demirovic and Jamie Leweling finding the net in the first half. Although Patrik Schick got a goal back in the first half, Bilal El Khannouss and Demirovic again added further goals for Stuttgart. Bayer 04 didn’t give up, but Ibrahim Maza’s goal proved little more than a consolation.
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Fans at the BayArena got to enjoy a spectacle on Wednesday as the Werkself came from behind to beat Nürnberg 5-2 in the DFB Pokal. Now with the sixth home game of the season, can Bayer 04 maintain their perfect record in Leverkusen as VfB Stuttgart come to town in the Bundesliga on Saturday (15:30 CET)? The visitors have had issues domestically this term, sitting in 15th place, although they have had much better results in the UEFA Champions League. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 8 encounter…
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