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."
A new look and new kit supplier for the 2025/26 campaign: Bayer 04 in tandem with sports equipment manufacturer New Balance present the official kit for the Leverkusen eSports players the coming season. New partner Sinology appears on the top right of the jersey. Menswear outfitters Lerros is still the main eSports sponsor and Niedax remains the sleeve partner. The jersey is available now from the Bayer 04 online shop and the Fanwelt.
Show moreBosnia U19 international Kerim Alajbegovic is moving from Bayer 04 Leverkusen's youth set-up to Red Bull Salzburg. The talented attacking midfielder has signed a long-term contract with the Austrian club. At the same time, the works club secured a buy-back option for the 17-year-old, who was one of the mainstays of the Leverkusen U19s.
Show morePreparations for the 2025/26 season at Bayer 04 start next Monday, 7 July, with the first team and youth players training together. Without the international players who were involved with their national teams at the end of last season, new head coach Erik ten Hag will welcome a group of senior and youth players to the first open training session one week ahead of the departure to the training camp in Rio de Janeiro. After the official welcome in the dressing room, the Werkself players will start the session in the shadow of the BayArena on 7 July at 14:00 CEST.
Show moreThe Werkself are away to Premier League club Chelsea in the final pre-season friendly. The game against the current holders of the UEFA Conference League is on Friday, 8 August at Stamford Bridge with the kick-off at 20:00 CEST. Read on for information on ticket sales.
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