Arsenal Vs Bayer Leverkusen: New Defender Riccardo Calafori Absent, This Is Arteta's Reason

The Arsenal players welcomed the fans after beating Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 in the test match. (X/@Arsenal)

JAKARTA - Arsenal won a big 4-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in a trial match that was held at home at the Emirates Stadium, Thursday, August 8, 2024, on WIB. In that match, manager Mikel Arteta deliberately did not play the new defender Riccardo Calafiori. It turns out that this is the reason. Arsenal got up after losing 2-1 during the trial against Liverpool in the United States. In the next trial, Arsenal hosted Leverkusen.

The German Bundesliga and German Cup champions have an unbeaten record last season. Leverkusen finally lost in an important match, namely the Europa League final. Xabi Alonso's team were forced to give up 3-0 by Atalanta. This was Leverkusen's first defeat.

While testing against Arsenal, they finally suffered a second defeat. Even Leverkusen's goal conceded when the game had only been running for eight minutes through Oleksandr Zinchenko's left-back goal.

Only one minute later, it was Leandro Trossard's front player's turn to increase the advantage to 2-0. The goal started from striker Kai Havertz's assist.

Arsenal added one more goal before the first half ended. This time Gabriel Jesus beat goalkeeper Matj Kovar in the 38th minute. Havertz completed the Gunners' win in the 65th minute.

Furthermore, Leverkusen minimized defeat when Adam Hlozek scored in the 76th minute. The score changed to 4-1 for Arsenal and lasted until the end of the match.

In that match, Arteta still hasn't fielded Calafiori, the Italian national team defender who was recruited from Bologna. According to Arteta, quoted by Mirror, this 22-year-old defender still needs adaptation with the team. Moreover, Calafiori underwent a different training method from the old club.

"He entered a new environment with a different methodology," said Arteta giving reasons why Calafiori had not yet been played.

"He is undergoing a different training method and we hope he can slowly blend with us," he said.

However, Arteta hopes his players can be fielded when Arsenal face Lyon in the Emirates Cup tournament which will be held at the Emirates Stadium, Sunday, August 11, 2024. This will be Arsenal's last warm-up match before the English Premier League competition.

"I hope he can be played even though it's not full on Sunday's game," said Arteta again.

Apart from Calafiori, defender Jurrien Timber did not appear in the trial because he had not recovered from a leg injury.

However, Arteta estimates that the Dutch defender will be able to play in Arsenal's first match in the league against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

England's national team players, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, are the last to join the team. However, both of them were immediately played as substitutes. They both went down in the second half.