The assessment of the 3-1 defeat at home to VfL Wolfsburg on kicker.de reads: "Bruno Labbadia beat his former club Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga for the first time at the thirteenth attempt. As in the surprise victory against FC Schalke on matchday one, Labbadia's VfL Wolfsburg produced an impressive display at the BayArena to secure a 3-1 win with a brace scored halfway through the second 45. The Werkself threw away the lead from a strike by Bailey and remain pointless."
There is a similar view in the report in the online edition of the BILD: "Yesterday, the lead came first followed by the mistakes: Leon Bailey (21) scored with a curler for the opener on 24 minutes. Wofsburg's response: Gerhardt crossed from the byline and the Bayer keeper Özcan (34) punched the ball into his own net (36'). Unlucky: 'Anyone can make a mistake and I've made one too. But the way I've caught myself out, that's how everybody should do it. We lacked determination, ambition and sharpness.' That's right! Nothing went right for Leverkusen after the restart. A double whammy from Weghorst (55') and Steffen (60') sealed the away win for Wolfsburg."
The Rheinische Post headline reads 'Perfect false start from Bayer' and the paper identified the double blow at the start of the second half as the decisive phase of the game: "Weghorst headed Bruno Labbadia's team into a 2-1 lead on 55 minutes. The Werkself looked shaky after going behind. Just as Herrlich reorganised his defence, the Wolves scored the next goal. Renato Steffen exploited the completely disorganised defence of the hosts to make it 3-1 on 60 minutes… Herrlich then gave Paulinho his Bundesliga, and Isaac Kiese Thelin his home debut. The 26,247 fans at the BayArena waited in vain for a fight-back from the ambitious hosts. The game ended with a deserved 3-1 win for the visitors."
The Sonntags Express looks ahead and describes the difficult situation: "It's off to Munich next. And a third defeat threatens away to Bayern. 'We won't moan and look for excuses. We have to grit our teeth and look to turn it round," said Ramazan Özcan. The coach was also disappointed: 'Two defeats don't meet our expectations. No points is a difficult situation. It will be a tough challenge in Munich and we have to be more organised in defence."
Bayer 04 Women missed out on victory in the Google Pixel Bundesliga as they were held to a draw at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Estrella Merino Gonzalez had put the Werkself ahead directly from a corner at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion, before Laura Freigang levelled for the visitors as it finished all square between fourth and third on Matchday 7.
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Freiburg have made an impressive start to the season, unbeaten in nine games across all competitions, with eight of them wins. Now the Bundesliga leaders come to the BayArena on Sunday to take on the Werkself, but Julian Schuster’s team will be missing their top scorer. Here’s the lowdown on our next opponent.
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without attacking midfielder Martin Terrier for the time being. The Frenchman sustained a muscle injury to his left hamstring yesterday, Thursday 15 October, during the Europa League game against Polish champions Lech Poznan (4–0). Terrier is not expected to be available until late December.
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Following the international break, the Bayer 04 women’s team face their next head-to-head clash in the race for a top spot in the Bundesliga. In Saturday’s home match (14:00 CEST), the fourth-placed side host third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Head coach Roberto Pätzold is well aware of the great opportunity this presents for his team.
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