Bayer Leverkusen will ramp up their preparations for their upcoming Bundesliga title defence on Saturday, when they travel to the Stade Bollaert-Delelis to take on Lens in a pre-season friendly.
The visitors began their pre-season bid against Rot-Weiss Essen last week, while their hosts have already turned out five times since the beginning of July in preparation for their Ligue 1 campaign.
Match preview
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Lens will return to the Stade Bollaert-Delelis on Saturday for their sixth friendly of this pre-season, in preparation for the 2024-25 French top-flight campaign under new management.
Following a memorable second-placed finish in the 2022-23 term, Les Sang et Or ended last campaign in seventh spot, narrowly missing out on European qualification having earned 51 points from their 38 outings.
That term brought an end to Franck Haise's four-year tenure as Lens boss, and they turned to Will Still to lead them into the new campaign, beginning with a pleasing start to pre-season as they successfully saw off Kortrijk, Red Star and Leuven, before suffering a first defeat at the hands of Eredivisie outfit Utrecht.
Such a meeting was one of two between the two teams on Saturday, and Still's team prevailed in the other, eventually picking up a 5-4 victory in an eventful contest with Wesley Said netting a brace alongside goals from Stijn Spierings, Remy Labeau Lascary and Tom Pouilly.
Now almost within two weeks of their league curtain-raiser away at Angers, in a bid to improve on their seventh-placed finish in Still's first year at the helm, and with two friendlies remaining after Saturday's contest, Lens will set out to pick up an impressive victory at the weekend to build further confidence in their camp.
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That will be no easy task, though, as the visitors arrive aiming to step up their preparations for the upcoming Bundesliga campaign after enjoying a historic season last time around.
In their first full season under the tutelage of Xabi Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen won their first-ever German top-flight title in style, going unbeaten throughout the entire league campaign and winning 28 of their 34 outings while drawing the other six to finish on 90 points, 17 clear of second spot.
Their eye-catching record did not just span the Bundesliga either, as Die Werkself's only defeat of the entire campaign came at the penultimate hurdle, falling short to Atalanta BC in the Europa League final in May, only to bounce back and seal the DFB-Pokal title and a domestic double with a 1-0 final win over Kaiserslautern thanks to Granit Xhaka's early goal.
On their return to action, Alonso's men began their run of friendlies with a trip to Rot-Weiss Essen last week and came out on top, as Nathan Tella and Patrik Schick got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 triumph.
Now moving closer to the season with two titles to defend and a DFB-Supercup looming in mid-August, Bayer Leverkusen will aim to build further momentum with another friendly victory on Saturday.
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Team News
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After splitting their squad for two matches against Utrecht last week, Lens may field their strongest starting XI on Saturday as we near the start of the Ligue 1 season, with summer signings Herve Koffi, Malang Sarr and Jhoanner Chavez all vying to earn opportunities from the outset.
Koffi should get the nod between the sticks, while Sarr and Facundo Medina will both bid to return to the squad and join captain Kevin Danso in defence.
Wesley Said's brace in the 5-4 win over Utrecht should earn him another start, while Florian Sotoca and Elye Wahi, who led their scoring charts with 12 goals last term, will also hope to line up in attack from the outset.
Having rotated throughout their meeting with Rot-Weiss Essen last week, Bayer Leverkusen should field a similar starting side on Saturday, with attacker Martin Terrier and midfielder Aleix Garcia again expected to be handed starts after their summer arrivals from Rennes and Girona respectively.
Fellow new signing Jeanuel Belocian will likely continue to join Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou in a back three in front of Lukas Hradecky, while Nathan Tella should again operate in a right wing-back role after his goal last time out in the absence of Jeremie Frimpong, who missed the Rot-Weiss Essen game alongside defenders Piero Hincapie and Jonathan Tah and key midfielder Granit Xhaka.
If Xhaka remains out, Garcia should be joined in the engine room by Arthur and Jonas Hofmann, while Terrier should partner Victor Boniface, who netted 21 goals alongside 10 assists in 34 appearances in his debut campaign for Die Werkself last time around, leaving Adam Hlozek and Patrik Schick to feature off the bench.
Lens possible starting lineup:
Koffi; Aguilar, Sarr, Danso, Chavez; Fulgini, Spierings, Mendy; Sotoca, Wahi, Said
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Hladcky; Kossounou, Tapsoba, Belocian; Tella, Hofmann, Garcia, Arthur, Adli; Terrier, Boniface
We say: Lens 1-3 Bayer Leverkusen
Lens have plenty of cause for optimism ahead of the new term under the management of Will Still, but if Bayer Leverkusen field a similarly strong starting XI to the one that met Rot-Weiss Essen last weekend, they should have too much quality for the French hosts.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
