What the papers say: 'The dream lives on'

"No desire to fear! Bayer through to final," is the headline in the Wednesday edition of the EXPRESS: "Top team Leverkusen did not show any weakness in the DFB Cup semi-final against giant killers Saarbrücken and they saw off the Regional League outfit with a 3-0 win – and now they face Bayern or Frankfurt in the final."

431 passes in 45 minutes

According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Werkself "even without the injured talent Kai Havertz (…) never doubted for a moment" that they would go through. "Moussa Diaby and Lucas Alario scored the early goals that Bayer craved and FCS feared. After that it was only about the scale of the victory," the journal reports. The Bundesliga side made the result more emphatic with just one other goal from Karim Bellarabi."

One impressive statistic from the first half of the match appears in the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger in its match report under the headline "Bayer off to Berlin". The report continues: "The fact the score at half-time was not 5-0 was the biggest point of criticism about the Werkself game that included a 431 passes after 45 minutes and 15 shots on the opposition goal." The newspaper explains tactical aspect of the superiority: "Leverkusen quickly won possession around the 90 per cent mark and the central defenders were at least 10 metres inside the Saarbrücken half."

Much praise for "extremely professional performance"

One word that frequently appears in the performance assessments of the Werkself: professional. The report in the online edition of the kicker reads: "Leverkusen were fully focused from the start against the team from Saarland and were already 2-0 up after 20 minutes." And further: "Leverkusen impressed in the first half with an extremely professional performance."

The Rheinische Post offers a similar assessment of the performance: "At no point did Bayer 04 create the impression that they would not approach the task against the club from the Saarland with the necessary professionalism." However, in spite of all the occupational seriousness, there is still time for emotion: "With the 3-0 victory against the champions of the Regional League South-west, the team under coach Peter Bosz are in the first final since 2009. The dream of the first title in 27 years lives on."

The Bild personalises this dream with the sporting managing director at Bayer 04 and shares the joy with Rudi Völler. "One of the greats of German football is back on the big stage after eleven years," reports the tabloid and continues by saying the club idol was only in a final with the Werkself in 2009 – back then as sporting director. Their article ends with the words: "Now Rudi gets another final!"