The first match of Erik Ten Hag in charge of Bayer Leverkusen ended with humiliation while they were beaten 5-1 with the team of under 20 years of Flamengo.
Ten Hag replaced Xabi Alonso in May after the Spanish decision to take over at Real Madrid.
The former boss of Manchester United hopes to imitate the success that Alonso had in his time in Leverkusen, during which they dethroned Bayern Munich as champions of Bundesliga in 2023-24 and won the DFB-Pokal. Their only defeat in this campaign was a 3-0 defeat against Atalanta in the Europa League final.
Leverkusen finished second last season, but they made a long way to their old glories under Alonso in a humiliating defeat in Rio de Janeiro.
“The result seems bad, but I don’t really care about the results of pre-season. We must never lose, not also by this margin,” Ten Hag told Bild.
“But it was important for me not to lose players. It would have been better to play the game later.
“At Leverkusen, we also have high expectations when the players are young. But we must not judge them too hard.”
Leverkusen’s goalkeeper added: “Lukas Hradecky was also surprised by quality with the ranks of the Janeiro Rio.
“I understood them as a mixed team [with pros] Just like us. But it was certainly a good lesson for young players, to compete at this high level.
“No wonder so many talents are there and come all the time in Europe – they impressed me a lot and deserved to win.”
