
“We didn’t play well in the first half and we conceded possession too easily after winning the ball,” said coach Markus von Ahlen. That sort of situation saw the first goal conceded on 19 minutes when Schalke 04 mounted a quick counter-attack after gaining possession.
It was 2-0 a few minutes later when the hosts seized on the ball in the Bayer 04 penalty area and the Schalke forward turned the ball into the net on 26 minutes.
More risks after the break
“The team showed great spirit in the second half and they tried to get back in to the game,” said von Ahlen in praise of his players. The Werkself youngsters took more risks after the restart, had more of the game and created more chances.
Güven Yalcin missed the target twice when well placed in front of the Schalke goal. The Royal Blues also had more space up front but were unable to improve on their two-goal lead. The game ended in a 2-0 win for Schalke.
Home game against Bielefeld on Wednesday
After the 3-2 defeat away to Dynamo Dresden in the DFB Youth Cup, the U19s also lose to Schalke in the Bundesliga. The Bayer 04 U19 team play the first match at home on Wednesday night. Arminia Bielefeld are the visitors at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium with an 18.00 CET kick-off .
The team from East Westphalia drew 0-0 with local rivals SC Paderborn in their opening match. Entrance to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium is free.
Match stats:
FC Schalke 04 U19: Weiner - Göring, Hempel, Wiemann, Fleckstein, Kübler, Goller (Neiß 67’), Boujellab, Kutucu (Can 84’), Ceka (Ahrend 71’), Taitague (Yildiz 80’).
Bayer 04 U19: Kucz - Popovic (Samoura 38’), Stappmann, Boller, Arik (Fragapane 62’), Schreck, Yalcin, Tokac (Mbay 77’), Shala, Bukusu (Grym 72’), Akkaynak.
Goals: 1-0 Ceka (19’), 2-0 Ceka (26’).
Booked: / - Stappmann, Boller.
Referee: Fleddermann (Nordhorn).
Attendance: 500

Werkself TV shows the highlights of the 4-0 victory in the friendly match against KRC Genk...
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In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...

After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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