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Patrik Schick, Arthur, Christian Kofane and Alex Grimaldo all netted in the side’s rampant win over a hapless Grossaspach, who had Volkan Celikwas sent off for a second yellow.
Leverkusen’s Arthur celebrates scoring with Edmond Tapsoba, right, during the DFB Cup 1st round soccer match between SG Sonnenhof Großaspach and Bayer Leverkusen at WIRmachenDRUCK Arena, Aspach, Germany, Friday Aug. 15, 2025. (Bernd Weißbrod/dpa via AP)
Bayer Leverkusen head coach Erik ten Hag made a winning start to his tenure at the German outfit with a 4-0 win in the first round of their DFB Pokal encounter against fourth-tier team Sonnenhof Grossaspach on Friday.
Patrik Schick, Arthur, Christian Kofane and Alex Grimaldo all netted in the side’s rampant win over a hapless Grossaspach, who also had to endure the sight of their captain Volkan Celikwas being sent off in the 66th with two bookings in as many minutes.
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Leverkusen had to defend for extended periods after Schick’s opener in the 32nd minute. The Czech forward also cleared the ball off the line. Arthur scored the second goal shortly after Celikwas was sent off, and other goals followed Mert Tasdelen’s late sending off for a bad challenge on Leverkusen defender Axel Tape.
Ten Hag, the former Manchester United manager, took over from the Real Madrid-bound Xabi Alonso and has had little time to work with a squad undergoing significant changes. Key players like Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, and Granit Xhaka have left, while Kofane, Tape, Ernest Poku, Ibrahim Maza, Jarell Quansah, and goalkeeper Mark Flekken all made their debuts on Friday.
Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes commented on the changes, saying that while it will take time for everything to come together, the team has promising young players like Ibrahim Maza, who demonstrated his qualities.
The match was interrupted in the first half by a summer storm with hailstones, leading referee Michael Bacher to take the teams off the field. Play resumed after a 40-minute break.
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American forward Isaiah Young scored in the final minutes to propel last season’s beaten finalist Arminia Bielefeld into the second round with a 1-0 win over Werder Bremen. Leonardo Bittencourt from the Bundesliga side was sent off in the 54th minute, and Bielefeld pushed hard for the winner. Young entered in the 79th minute and thrilled the home fans by scoring in the third minute of stoppage time.
Bielefeld, then playing in the third division, knocked out several Bundesliga clubs, including Bremen, on its way to the final in May, where Stuttgart proved too strong. Stuttgart’s title defense will start later this month as it plays Bayern Munich in the German Supercup on Saturday.
Also on Friday, Union Berlin routed fourth-tier side Gütersloh 5-0 away, and second-division Magdeburg secured a 3-1 win at third-division Saarbrücken.
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