The online edition of the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger singles out Bayer 04's defensive solidity: "Heiko Herrlich's team, with a reorganised defence led by Julian Baumgartlinger after numerous absentees , produced a solid to good defensive performance. The Bayer defence was alert and proactive. Goalkeeper Bernd Leno had a very quiet afternoon."
The analysis in the Kicker: "Werder Bremen remained unbeaten in their twelfth Bundesliga home game under coach Florian Kohfeldt. Werder were disappointing up front in the 0-0 draw with Leverkusen but were very determined at the back The Werkself were livelier but were short of ideas in attack... The visitors tried hard but were unable to make the breakthrough."
The Kölner Express summed it up with the following point: "The Werkself now have their final for Champions League qualification on matchday 34 at home to Hannover 96.“ Their reports mentions the strange scene involving Lucas Alario: "It could have turned out worse for the Werkself following a fifth booking for Kevin Volland: Substitute Lucas Alario was also shown a yellow card with five minutes to play. Nobody in the stadium new why. Referee Hartmann withdrew the caution shortly afterwards when the the Video Assistant Bastian Dankert intervened. Luck and bad luck for Heiko Herrlich and his team."
The verdict of the Welt am Sonntag read: "90 minutes of superiority was not enough for Leverkusen to take the next step towards the Champions League against a tame Bremen side."
The online edition of the Rheinische Post reported: "Actually, everything went to plan from a Bayer 04 perspective: Hoffenheim, the closest rivals for fourth place, lost at Stuttgart and Dortmund slipped up against Mainz. Leverkusen, playing against coach Florian Kohfeldt's Bremen side still unbeaten at home, missed numerous chances. The 0-0 draw puts them level on points with Hoffenheim – and sets up an exciting showdown on the final matchday of the season... Leverkusen tried to land the knock-out blow right to the end but the Bremen defence held firm."
Despite a major personnel shake-up in the summer, RB Leipzig have performed impressively this term. Ahead of matchday 15, coach Ole Werner's team are second in the Bundesliga with a three-point lead over their upcoming opponents Bayer 04. This Saturday, 20 December (kick-off: 18:30 CET), the Werkself are away to RBL who are strong at home. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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The German Football League (DFL) has scheduled matchdays 20 to 24 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The dates at a glance.
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This year - for the third time - the parents of the Bayer 04 youth players from the U8 to U15 age groups once again took part in the WDR Christmas Miracle. Under the motto "Goals against hunger in the world - parents in goal!", they organised their own fundraising campaign to once again actively support the important WDR campaign. The sum of €3,420 was handed over at the Glashaus in Essen in the middle of the week during the live programme.
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On Tuesday evening, Bayer 04's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer and its employees welcomed some very special visitors to the company's Christmas market at its headquarters in Wuppertal: Werkself players Robert Andrich, Mark Flekken, Loïc Badé, Jarell Quansah and Malik Tillman spent lots of time with Bayer 04 fans of all ages in the early evening – and also helped to serve drinks such as Glühwein (mulled wine) and delicious food.
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The Leverkusen eSports players picked up just one point on Tuesday 16 December in the remaining three matches of the online preliminary round of Showdown Three in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. As a result, the #B04eSports team once again miss out on going through to the offline knockout phase and now head into the winter break.
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