Back
16.01.2025Youth

Youth: Plenty of minutes for Leverkusen internationals

For six of Bayer 04's youth internationals, the football year 2025 started with outings in their respective national team colours. As well as a German quintet, Andrea Natali was on his travels with Italy.
Andrea Natali

U19 centre-back Andrea Natali was called up to the Italian U19 squad and joined up with his compatriots near Madrid. In a friendly against Spain on the final day of the camp, the Leverkusen youngster played the full match and more than held his own among team-mates who were mostly two years older. It finished 1-0 to the Spaniards.

trio start for germany u17

No fewer than three players from the Bayer 04 academy were named in Marc Meister's German U17 squad. Ben Hawighorst, Jeremiah Mensah and Nebe Domnic took part in the first ten-day camp of the new year on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, where two friendlies against Portugal were also held.

Hawighorst and Domnic started in the first game and were brought off at half-time as planned after pleasing displays. At the start of the second period, Mensah came on and caught the eye in attack, converting a penalty in the subsequent shootout - which Portugal won - among other things.

Friendly number two began with all three Leverkusen boys in the starting line-up. Hawighorst was forced off with an injury during the first half, while Domnic and Mensah were replaced at the break.

germany U16: werkself trio score from spot

Germany's U16 head coach André Pawlak also counted on Leverkusen personnel in his roster. Elia Datené and Ivan Massek travelled to the Spanish Mediterranean coast for 10 days and, like the U17s, took part in two friendlies against their Portuguese counterparts. The Bayer 04 pair came on at the restart in the first encounter, with Massek scoring the equaliser for 1-1. Both were on target in the concluding penalty shootout. The second friendly also ended in a draw after regular time (2-2), with Datené and Massek playing the first half.​

Coming up in February are the U17 Algarve Cup in Portugal as well as an U16 UEFA development tournament.

Related News

Ibrahim Maza
Bayer 04 - 04.05.2026

Vote now for Ibrahim Maza to be Bundesliga Rookie of the Season!

Bayer 04’s Ibrahim Maza is among the three nominees for the Bundesliga’s 2025/26 Rookie of the Season award. Fans have until 23:59 CEST on Thursday, 7 May to cast their votes in the official Bundesliga app.

Show more
Rekord: Frauen feiern 14. Saisonsieg in Essen | 24. Spieltag
Werkself-TV - 03.05.2026

Women: TV-highlights of 4-0 win at SGS Essen

Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 4-0 win at SGS Essen on the 24th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.

Show more
Torjubel der Bayer 04-Frauen
Women - 03.05.2026

Bundesliga record for the Werkself: Women celebrate 14th win of the season in Essen

The Bayer 04 Women have kept their chance of qualifying for the Champions League alive in the Bundesliga run-in. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 4-0 at SGS Essen on Sunday afternoon, improving their record from last season to 14 wins this term. With 43 points, the Werkself equalled another record from the 2024/25 season and at the same time reduced the gap to third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt to two points, at least for tonight. Loreen Bender (4’), Kristin Kögel (41’, 68’) and Cornelia Kramer (89’) scored for the Black and Reds, who dominated the game to record their fourth win on the bounce.

Show more
Werkself jubelt mit den Fans
Bundesliga - 03.05.2026

Werkself review #B04RBL: Up to fourth place with ‘fantastic energy’ from the fans

With the 4-1 home win against RB Leipzig, the Werkself not only ended the run of five consecutive victories for RBL, but also moved up to fourth place, which would ensure qualification for the UEFA Champions League. While the media praised the impressive performance of Leverkusen's hat-trick hero Patrik Schick in particular, the team and coach were delighted with the "fantastic energy" from the stands and are looking to take the momentum into the remaining two games: "We have to perform like we did today in Stuttgart!" The Werkself review.

Show more