The players from the city team assembled at five in the evening in front of the North West entrance to the BayArena, they then made their way to the away dressing room at the BayArena. In the place where Bundesliga players normally get changed there were 33 amateur players from 12 clubs from Leverkusen and surrounding areas. They were all kitted out with shirts in green and white specially produced for this match – in the colours of the city of Leverkusen.
The next highlight came in the dressing room: Leverkusen sporting managing director Rudi Völler, 1990 World Cup winner, welcomed the city team and he spoke to the lads.
At the stroke of six o'clock, 30 minutes before kick-off, the city team ran onto the pitch at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium to applause from the many fans present. The team was mainly put together by Dick Dreher, general manager of the Werkself Veterans team. Bayer 04 legend Peter Hermann and Stefan Müller (SV Schlebusch) acted as the coaches.
Immediately after the city team came on, the Werkself, including eleven U19 players, followed them onto the pitch – including top players Andrey Lunev, Kerem Demirbay, Nadiem Amiri, Daley Sinkgraven, Panagiotis Retsos and Paulinho.
Ahead of the game, Werkself stalwart Julian Baumgartlinger answered questions on the pitch at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. In a conversation with stadium announcers Pitti Dahl and Tobi Ufer, the captain of Austria explained how the charity match had come about.
The Werkself were at their summer training camp in Austria at the time of the floods in the Rhineland and only experienced the events in Germany from afar. "It rained a lot there as well – but nowhere near as much as here. We saw the pictures in the media and immediately said: We've got to help out!," said the 33-year-old. "This game is the least we can do. A big thank you to everyone involved – above all the fans here."
Baumgartlinger was joined at the stadium by Lucas Alario, Mitchel Bakker, Charles Aránguiz, Robert Andrich, Patrik Schick, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Karim Bellarabi. The Werkself players sidelined with knocks and injuries took time out for photos with the fans. Florian Wirtz also came into the stands during the game. The 18-year-old was with the Germany squad in Wolfsburg up to Wednesday afternoon but he is not available for the forthcoming international fixtures. He has returned to Leverkusen for treatment for muscular problems in his hip.
After a group photograph with the players and officials on both sides, referee Kim Schwarzschultz from Leverkusen started the first third of the charity match.
In an almost balanced opening phase, it was the city team striker Fabian Krzyscin (TuS Quettingen/Kreisliga B) who had the best chance in the game so far with a long-range effort on ten minutes. However, the first goal of the night was scored by the Bundesliga team: U19 player Ayman Aourir beat Christoph Geschonnek (SV Schlebusch, Landesliga) in the city team goal to make it 1-0 after 18 minutes. That scoreline held to the first break.
Fernando Carro and Rudi Völler came onto the pitch with a delegation accompanying Leverkusen's mayor Uwe Richrath. The Bayer 04 managing directors presented a cheque for over €100,000 to the Leverkusen Community Foundation. "What Bayer 04, the fans and everybody involved here have put together is amazing. The money raised will help enormously to reduce the suffering of the people affected," said CEO Manuel Bast.
The amount of the donation came from the money raised at the charity match as well as the fan flea market at the BayArena at the start of October. In addition, Bayer 04 together with main sponsors Barmenia plus premium partner Tipwin topped up the funds. The money will be used to help clubs from Leverkusen and also in part to support flood and climate protection.
The 2,104 spectators were well entertained: The city team produced a courageous performance against Demirbay and Co. The Black and Reds increased the lead to 5-0 in the second third and, after the 75 minutes played, the scoreline was 8-1 in favour of the team under head coach Gerardo Seoane. The goals were scored by Paulinho, Ayman Aourir (2 each), Nadiem Amiri, Daley Sinkgraven, Aaron Tshimuanga and Volkan Ballicalioglu. A consolation goal for the city team was scored at the end by Eljfat Sinani (Genclerbirligi Opladen) and everybody was able to enjoy a successful evening of football.
Anyone wanting to see the events on the pitch as well as interviews and many other images from the evening of the charity match, can see that in a re-run of the live stream on the club's YouTube channel. HERE is the video.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Lunev (Lomb 40') – L. Pesch (Aksoy 50’), Bance (Burghard 50’), Retsos, Sinkgraven – Amiri, Demirbay (Erken 50’) – Jung (Barak 50’), Aourir (Köhl 50’), Paulinho – Tshimuanga (Ballicalioglu 50’)
City team (First third): Geschonnek – Fischermann, Görgens, Wirtz, Luginger, Krzyscin, Breddemann, Mollek, Rekus, Schulz, Maier
City team (Second third): Yüksel – Riedel, Beilmann, Senn, Kosegarten, Uzun, Prensena, Labusga, Arabi, Albanese, Kwoczalla
City team (Third third): Ciulla – Engelen, Mayer, Pires, Arnone, Amico, Morano, Schell, Röhler, Sinani, Uzun
Goals: 1-0 Aourir (18’), 2-0 Paulinho (32’), 3-0 Tshimuanga (36’), 4-0 Aourir (39’), 5-0 Paulinho (45’), 6-0 Amiri (53’), 7-0 Ballicalioglu (36’), 8-0 Sinkgraven (69’), 8-1 Sinani (73’)
Referee: Kim Schwarzschultz (Leverkusen)
Attendance: 2,103
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