Tenghager was humiliated by the youth army in his debut! He lost 1-5 to Flamengo U20, Teng: It s just a preseason!

Former Manchester United coach Ten Hager opened a new chapter in coaching in Germany, but suffered a "Waterloo" defeat in the first game. His new boss, Bundesliga champion Leverkusen, lost 1-5 to Brazilian giant Flamenco's U20 youth team in the warm-up match.

This "upset" can even be called a "stigmatized failure" game, which brought the Dutch coach back to the forefront.

[The whole story of the devastating defeat]

Tenhager was fired by Manchester United in October 2024. At that time, he only led the team to win three wins in the Premier League and was dismissed after losing to West Ham United. In May 2025, he officially replaced Xavi Alonso as the new coach of Leverkusen, marking another attempt in the mainstream European coaching circle.

In order to make its coaching debut, Leverkusen flew thousands of miles to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to challenge Flamenco. However, it was not the opponent's first team that appeared on the court, but the U20 Youth Army. However, this Brazilian "Little Generals" lost all the face of the Bundesliga champion with its extremely impactful performance.

Just two minutes into the game, the Flamengo Youth Team made a quick blitz and won another goal in the 10th minute. Tenhager had no choice but to replace main goalkeeper Fleken and forward Bonifers in the 36th minute, but this did not stop the opponent from continuing to destroy the defense line of the Bundesliga championship. Before the end of the first half, the Brazilian youth team scored two more goals, and the score reached 0-4.

【The "full change of the team" in the second half was useless】

Although the scene was suppressed, Tenghager did not make any adjustments during the halftime break. However, Leverkusen was scored the fifth goal in the 55th minute of the second half. In the 60th minute, Tenghager decisively made the decision to "replace the whole team" - replacing all 11 people on the field, including the two players who came on the bench before, and a total of 13 people were rotated. The replacement includes Zachar, Grimaldo, and Shik, and other heroes who won the Bundesliga last season.

In the 71st minute, the young player Montrell Culbreath, who came on the bench, scored a goal for Leverkusen. This is also the only comforting ball for the Bundesliga champion throughout the game. Despite the slight improvement in the second half, the team still failed to break through the opponent's goal again.

[Tenghager responded to the failure: I actually don't care much about the preseason results]

After the game, Tenghager said in an interview with German media:

"The result of this game looks bad, but I actually don't care much about the preseason results."

"We must not lose, let alone lose so much, but for me, the most important thing is that no player is injured. Yes, it would be great if this game could be played later. "

"The performance in the last 30 minutes was good and I could see some positive signs."

[Linecraft Issues& Signing Background]

It is worth mentioning that Leverkusen lost several key players this summer, including midfielder core Florian Wilz, flew wing Flynnpon and defense pillar Jonathan Ta, the overall strength of the team has been affected to a certain extent.

Despite this, the management is still actively operating in the transfer market, signing Liverpool young player Jarrell Kunsa and US midfielder Malik Tillman, but neither of them is on the roster of this game.

[Next schedule and test]

Tenhager and Leverkusen's next warm-up match will face Bundesliga team Bochum 9 days later, and will face Fortuna Sitade in the Eredivisie and Pisa in Serie B in turn, and finally challenge the Club World Cup champion Chelsea in the climax of the pre-season preparation stage.

This disastrous defeat undoubtedly sounded the alarm for Tenghager. Although it was just a warm-up match, in the eyes of the media and fans, such a result is still unacceptable. Especially considering that the opponent is not a professional team, but a youth team.

【Marion United's old story is not far away, and now it is in crisis again? 】

Recalling Tenghager's coaching experience at Manchester United, he coached 128 games, won 70 wins, and led the team to win the League Cup and FA Cup double championships. But as the record declined, he only scored 11 points in the first nine rounds of the Premier League and was eventually fired in October 2024.

Although successor Ruben Amorin performed worse - winning only 16 games in 42 games, the impression that Tenhager left at Manchester United is "steady and slow to respond" still seems to have not completely gotten rid of.

Now in Leverkusen, he needs to quickly find a new system to gather morale in the locker room, otherwise he will face more doubts from the outside world soon.

Conclusion:

A friendly match that should have been easily won eventually became the most shameful beginning of Tenghager's coaching career. Every game in the future may be a "life-and-death battle" for him. In the face of the Bundesliga defending titles and Champions League challenges, Tenhager's ability to adjust and leadership will be tested again.