
The headline in the Bild Zeitung: 'Mad win! Bayer finally play magical football' and the report reads: "This timely win is HERRLICH (brilliant)! Volland (8') plus the two Bremen lads Brandt (38'/born on the Weser) and Bellarabi (45'/spent six seasons in the Werder youth set-up) settled it by the break – 0-3. Bremen have never been further behind at the break."
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung sum up the match and the result in one sentence: 'Leverkusen take werder apart." The article reads: "Heiko Herrlich's future was up for discussion after just eight points from eight games. Werder made it easy for his team to win their third game of the season with some tenous defensive work. At the same time, Bremen fought back from 3-0 down to 3-2 in the second half. But Havertz’ wonderful chip at 4-2 and Pavlenka's error for the 5-2 enabled Leverkusen to relax. The tempo of this lively team in the stadium was brilliant... Eight or nine goals for Leverkusen would have been possible on the night."
The Bonner General Anzeiger saw the unexpected runaway victory from the viewpoint of the coach: 'Herrlich (brilliant) for Herrlich' was the headline.The report continued: "With counter-attacking football par excellence, Bayer Leverkusen were able to halt their downward slide against a Bremen side strong at home and remove coach Heiko Herrlich from the line of fire. The Rhinelanders won 6-2 at Werder in a hig-quality game and inflicted the first home defeat on the North Germans since the coach Florian Kohfeldt took over in October 2017. Since then, Bremen went 16 games unbeaten in front of their own fans in the Bundesliga."
The Rheinische Post declares: "Bayer blast their way out of a crisis.". The Munich-based Abendzeitung says: "Bayer blaze away."
The Kölner Stadt Anzeiger reports: Bayer 04 rolled over the in-form Bremen side at the Weserstadion with a 6-2 victory in the best performance of the season. It could be a new start for the Werkself. 'Of course, now we've raised the bar very high ourselves. And now we'll have to be evalued accordingly," said Julian Brandt. 'We don't want to produce performances like that very eight weeks but rather more regularly. Best of all, in Wednesday's cup game at Gladbach.'"
Like many other journalists, this reporter focused on the events after the final whistle: "Rudi Völler actually wanted to celebrate the runaway victory at his old stomping ground in peace. But then Bayer's sporting managing director was forced to make one of his famous rants. "That was a disgrace. Incredible," raged Völler after he heard the pay TV broadcaster Sky was speculating about the future of Heiko Herrlich in spite of the runaway victory."
The conclusion of the Kicker reads: "With a rousing 6-2 win at Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen have blown away all their frustration. Against a mostly overstretched Bremen defence, that had to manage without main man Moisander, the fast Leverkusen attack of Brandt, Bellarabi and Co. rarely had any problems."

The Werkself will host VfB Stuttgart at the BayArena on matchday 16 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The game is on Saturday, 10 January, at 18:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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The Werkself will host Werder Bremen at the BayArena on matchday 19 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The game is on Saturday, 24 January, at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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In the sixth and final match of the league phase of the UEFA Youth League 2025/26, the Bayer 04 U19s have a great opportunity to advance to the knockout phase of Europe’s most prestigious youth competition for the first time. To achieve that under their own steam, they will need a win against Newcastle United at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Wednesday, 10 December (kick-off: 14:00 CET/ free admission). In an interview with bayer04.de, managing director sport Simon Rolfes analyses the team's performances so far and their special situation. And the 43-year-old reveals what he would be happy to do without on the day of the match.
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The next opponents in the 2025/26 DFB Pokal have been announced: Bayer 04 will host Bundesliga rivals FC St. Pauli in the quarter-finals. That was the outcome of the draw held this Sunday evening, 7 December, at the German Football Museum in Dortmund, where long-time Bundesliga player and coach Friedhelm Funkel made the draw. The Werkself will play their quarter-final tie on 3-4 or 10-11 February 2026. The exact dates have yet to be finalised.
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After falling behind early on, Bayer 04 took control of the game against a combative and disciplined FC Augsburg on Saturday afternoon. However, they lacked the necessary precision in finishing and hit the post and crossbar three times. After the game, coach Kasper Hjulmand said he wanted to get back to the "right philosophy" of previous matches with three games left in 2025. The Werkself review.
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