The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger headline reads: "Bayer storm into the knockout rounds." The report continues: "Bayer 04 were in the mood for a win – and a cracker as in the first game against Nice." The journal dug up an historic fact: The starting eleven head coach Peter Bosz fielded on the Côte d'Azur, with the oldest in the club's history in this competition.
The highest marks went to Aleksandar Dragovic, Nadiem Amiri and Moussa Diaby.
The Kölnische Rundschau declared the Black and Reds were "hungry for goals", which is confirmed by the fact the Werkself have scored the most goals (17) of all the teams in the Europa League after five out of six group matches. Commenting on the opening stages: "Leverkusen grabbed hold of the game and pressed for an early lead. […] The hosts were hardly involved in the match. Kerem Demirbay set up Diaby's opener with an impressive chipped pass."
"To dispel all doubts about progressing to the next round, Peter Bosz opted for an experienced team in this away game," was the start of the match report in the Rheinische Post. The Werkself were 2-1 up at half-time, which the paper describes as deserved "due to control of the game and the better chances."
The headline in the Bild reads: "Despite trouble with the ref! Bayer express train races through to next round." With the headline, the newspaper addresses the top performances of selected Werkself players. The explanation: "Express train because the outstanding Demirbay set up the opening goal with a world-class pass, which the Frenchman Moussa Diaby (22') converted with a volley – a magical goal. Express train because Aleksandar Dragovic smashed in a volley from an Amiri corner to make it 2-1 (32')."
In the view of the tabloid, the Werkself could have scored more goals. A follow-up explains: "Just annoying that the Italian ref Maurizio Mariani denied a clear penalty (foul on Diaby/5') and a goal from Schick (not offside/24'). VAR is only available in the Europa League from the knockout rounds. But Leverkusen are now through…"
With twelve points, Slavia Prague are now also through to the knockout rounds. The two teams meet at the BayArena next Thursday 10 December (kick-off: 18.55 CET) "in the final to win the group."
There was a successful end to the women's internationals with Werkself players Carlotta Wamser and Cornelia Kramer qualifying for the 2027 World Cup finals in Brazil. A third Leverkusen player is still in with a chance of joining them. The Germany U23 players also experienced success in their last two international friendlies of the season.
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Traveling to North America for the World Cup this summer to see your favorite Bayer 04 players? Here’s a quick cheat sheet with thumbnail portraits and insider tips for each city from a local expert, so you can make the most of your visit and activities beyond the game!
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A fresh look for the BayArena: The Bayer 04 stadium will have new seating in the form of folding seats for the 2026/27 campaign that will ensure significantly improved seating comfort and simplified movement within the rows of seats. As part of routine replacement after 17 years, fans of the Werkself were able to purchase the existing seats, used to witness the first German league title in the club's history. In addition, a large proportion of the seats will be donated to charitable projects, primarily in the local region. Bayer 04 fans can look forward to new, functional folding seats for the season opener at the beginning of August - still in the club colours of black and red, of course. A glimpse at the BayArena during the refurbishment.
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On Monday evening, 8 June, around 250 people came to the Bürgerhaus Baumberg at the invitation of Bayer 04 to find out details of the new plans for the campus on Alfred-Nobel-Straße at an information event. More compact, greener and with many advantages for Monheim am Rhein - those are the aims. There were lively discussions for around three hours and some misunderstandings were cleared up.
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