The management of the Werkself youngsters were suitably disappointed. "At the end of the day it was a deserved win for Dresden," said coach Markus von Ahlen and his colleague Iraklis Metaxas added: "The lads didn't really do enough today."
Although Atakan Akkaynak, Sam Schreck and Jakub Bednarczyk, who all completed the pre-season with the Bayer 04 first team squad, were in the starting line-up, Leverkusen never found their usual and hoped-for form. "We set out to control the game but we didn't manage it. We played too slowly and, above all, we didn't function as a team. We weren’t decisive enough up front and too susceptible at the back," criticised von Ahlen.
The latter was clearly evident at set pieces with the dangerous Dresden side scoring their first two goals in that way on 15 and 56 minutes. "We lacked organisation and resolve," declared Metaxas. Güven Yalcin equalised seven minutes before the break and substitute Ömer Tokac levelled at 2-2 five minutes to play. "In those moves we succeeded in getting behind their defence. But we didn't do that enough," said von Ahlen. A minute after the second equaliser, the Dresden fans were able to celebrate the 3-2 scoreline as the Bayer 04 defence were again not compact and lacked energy in their approach.
The championship of the West group in the U19 Bundesliga starts for the Bayer 04 U19 side on Sunday 13 August with a crunch match away to Schalke 04 (11.00 CET). "We'll need to do much better than we did at Dresden if we’re going to to get a result," said von Ahlen.
Match stats:
Dynamo Dresden: Schneider – Vetterlein, Kusej (Ziehm 90'), Huber (Hauptmann 71’), Bär, Kulke, Jacob, Shubitidze, Atilgan (Engst 82’), Käppler, Stelzer
Bayer 04: Kucz – Shala, Stappmann, Boller, Popovic (Deveci 69’) – Schneider (Tokac 55’), Arik – Schreck, Akkaynak, Bednarczyk (Bukusu 78’) – Yalcin
Goals: 1-0 (15’) Atilgan, 1-1 (38’) Yalcin, 2-1 (56’), Atilgan, 2-2 (85’) Tokac, 3-2 (86’) Shubitidze
Referee: Schipke (Landsberg-Queis)
Booked: Shala, Stappmann, Tokac
Attendance: 692
Tickets for the first two Bayer 04 women’s team home games are now on general sale. A week after their league opener away at RB Leipzig, Roberto Pätzold’s side will face last season’s runners-up, VfL Wolfsburg, in the first home fixture on Sunday 30 August (kick-off: 16:00 CEST). Fifteen days later, on Monday night, 14 September (kick-off: 18:00 CEST), the Leverkusen Women host German champions Bayern Munich at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium for a top-of-the-table league clash. You can now also select specific seats via the online shop. The latest information on match ticket sales.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended midfielder Noah Mbamba’s contract by twelve months and sent the Belgian U21 international on loan to France. At FC Lorient, the 21-year-old – whose contract at Leverkusen now runs to 30 June 2029 – is set to gain playing time in Ligue 1 and, through strong performances and further development, put himself in the running for a future place in the Werkself squad.
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Back at the BayArena at last! For the first time since the summer break, the Werkself played at their home ground in the 2026 season launch – and went on to beat Sevilla in the fifth preseason friendly. Patrik Schick turned the game around after Miguel Sierra put the visitors ahead (16’), scoring twice in the second half (66’, 79’) to the delight of the Bayer 04 fans in the new seats at the BayArena. New signing Miguel Gutiérrez was delighted to provide the assist for the equaliser on his debut under the Bayer Cross.
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Spurred on by a flawless hat-trick from Cornelia Kramer, the Bayer 04 women’s team won their penultimate pre-season friendly in commanding fashion. As part of the season launch, the Werkself beat Dutch top-flight side Feyenoord 7–0. In front of 3,000 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, Kramer (6’, 25’, 45’), Sofie Zdebel (47’), Maja Sternad (59'), Natasha Kowalski (83') and Vanessa Fudalla (86') scored the goals for coach Roberto Pätzold’s side.
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