FC Utrecht achieved a good result on Wednesday in a practice match against Bayer Leverkusen. In the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, right next to the BayArena, trainer René Hake’s team won 1-2. Gyrano Kerk scored both goals for Utrecht, while Mitchel Bakker scored first for Leverkusen. Thanks to the good result, Utrecht remains unbeaten in the preparation for the new season.
The exhibition game was preceded by a minute of silence. That was related to a major fire that raged on Tuesday at a chemical industrial site in Leverkusen, which left at least 2 dead and 31 injured. Moreover, Leverkusen played with mourning bands on. Utrecht started with a strong line-up, while Leverkusen certainly didn’t field a B-team with players such as Jonathan Tah, Kerem Demirbay, Lucas Alario, Julian Baumgartlinger, Moussa Diaby, Florian Wirtz and Karim Bellarabi. The Dutch Bakker and Jeremie Frimpong had a basic place; Daley Sinkgraven came in late in the game.
Bakker opened the scoring five minutes after the break. The defender was able to easily tap in after a good pass from Bellarabi. A few minutes later, Kerk scored successfully in the short corner on a pass from Hidde ter Avest. A splitting pass from Tommy St. Jago then enabled Kerk to kick the ball in beautifully. Utrecht therefore booked a new practice win, after previous victories over KV Mechelen, AA Gent, Club Brugge, Germinal Beerschot and Niki Volos and draws against Royal Antwerp, Anderlecht and Zulte Waregem. After 90 minutes, the game was extended by 45 minutes and the reserves of both teams came into action.
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