Lively friendly against Wolfsburg: Women end training camp with narrow defeat

"It was a very good friendly for us that showed the areas we have to work on before the league starts. It was a very intensive game, both teams gave nothing away and played fast football," said Pätzold: "We had some problems in the opening phase and our pressing lacked structure at first. Wolfsburg put us under pressure and were able to break through several times. We improved over the course of the game, had more of the action and we won more possession. You could also see that we are missing a bit in terms of creating threats on goal. After the many substitutions we had to defend in certain situations."

Selina Ostermeier and Amy Wrigge (both due to muscle injuries), Caroline Kehrer (rehab training) and the long-term injured player Shen Menglu (torn cruciate) did not travel to the training camp. In addition, Estrella Merino Gonzalez and Loreen Bender were ruled out due to knocks, and Valentina Mädl dropped out late on. The two goalkeepers Anne Moll and Louisa Remien trained on their own. The line-up included five players from the youth teams who extended the first team squad in Rieden: Jolina Heltemes, Jana Lindner, Angelie Martens, Amelie Sosnik plus later arrival Sana Coskun. Die Grüne Au in Hof is around 150 kilometres away from Rieden where the Werkself have had their training camp since last Sunday.

Wolfsburg off to dream start

The visitors playing in all green made a dream start. From a corner taken by former Leverkusen player Janou Levels Alexandra Popp headed the Wolves into the lead after two minutes. The Bundesliga runners-up were in charge after that making the Werkself chase the game. Another corner almost led to the second goal but Popp only hit the post from the edge of the penalty area (14'). And the next big chance also fell to VfL: Levels shot from a similar position to Popp and she hit the ball just past the goal minded by Friederike Repohl (19'). The Werkself responded with an attack eight minutes later: Carlotta Wamser crossed from the right and Cornelia Kramer headed the ball onto the top of the goal. The Pätzold team became more and more courageous but were unable to create any clear-cut chances. Shortly before the end of the first phase, Katharina Piljic had to be substituted due to a knock and she was replaced by Ida Daedelow.

double whammy after first break

The second phase of the game got off to flying start: First, Lineth Beerensteyn tested Repohl with a well struck shot four minutes after the break. Leverkusen, playing in their white away kit, hit straight back. After a misplaced pass in the VfL build-up Vanessa Fudalla won the ball in a flash and laid it off to Kögel. The offensive player did not hesitate and scored the equaliser with a slightly deflected shot (49’). Bayer 04 then completely turned the game round seconds after the kick-off: An attempt to clear by Stina Johannes was blocked by Kramer at close range – and she put the ball in the empty net (51'). With a large amount of confidence, the Werkself then increasingly took control of the game. Wolfsburg then struck back the middle of a balanced part of the game. Svenja Huth curled an unstoppable long-range effort into the top corner to make it 2-2 (69’). That was the scoreline going into the second break.

The last phase of the game began with extremely bad luck for the Werkself. Full-back Julia Mickenhagen got stuck in the pitch when she received the ball and lost possession. The ensuing cross ended up with Sham Freier who was left with a tap-in – the Bayer 04 Women were behind again (80'). The team led by coach Stephen Lerch hardly gave anything away and they did not give Leverkusen much of a chance.

Pätzold made five changes with 30 minutes to play. Paula Schwartz, Claudia Wenger, Juliette Vidal, Fudalla and Lindner came (back) into the game. There was end-to-end action but no real chances were produced. The biggest goalscoring opportunity since Wolfsburg went 3-2 up from Cora Zicai was kept out with a flying save from substitute keeper Charlotte Voll (108’). As the shot from Ruby Grant at the other end lacked accuracy (119') the scoreline remained 3-2 to VfL at the final whistle.

coming up: final friendly against Liège

The squad return home on Saturday morning. Leverkusen have a final friendly against Standard Liège on Saturday, 30 August (16:00 CEST, 3 x 45 minutes, Kurtekotten). The new season in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga begins a week later on Saturday, 6 September (17:45 CEST, live on ARD, MagentaSport and DAZN) with the official opening fixture against the champions of Germany Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

Click HERE for the full summer timetable for the Bayer 04 Women.

Match stats:

Bayer 04, first phase (45 minutes): Repohl - Wamser, Wenger, Turanyi, Mickenhagen - Grant, Piljic (Daedelow 45') - Bartz, Kögel - Kramer, Fudalla

Bayer 04, second phase (30 minutes): Repohl - Wamser, Friedrich, Turanyi, Mickenhagen - Zdebel, Daedelow - Bartz, Kögel - Kramer, Fudalla (Haim 61')

Bayer 04, third phase (45 minutes): Repohl (Voll 91') - Wamser (Schwartze 91', Coskun 112'), Friedrich, Turanyi (91. Wenger), Mickenhagen (Vidal 91') - Zdebel, Daedelow - Grant, Kögel (Fudalla 91') - Bartz (Lindner 91'), Haim

VfL Wolfsburg: Johannes (Tufekovic 76') – Wedemeyer (Saelen 91'), Dijkstra (Küver 60'), Minge (Bjelde 60'), Levels (Pujols 60') – Lattwein (Kielland 60'), Peddemors (Papp 60') – Endemann (Bussy 76'), Popp (Vallotto 76'), Huth (Zicai 76') – Beerensteyn (Freier 76')

Goals: 0-1 Popp (2’), 1-1 Kögel (49’), 1-2 Kramer (51’), 2-2 Huth (69’), 2-3 Freier (80’)

Yellow cards: Piljic - Huth, Popp

Referee: Angelika Söder (Ochenbruck)

Attendance: 1,225 at the Stadion Grüne Au