Following the 4-0 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt, 04 Black and Red players made it into the kicker "team of the day". Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah and Kai Havertz are in it for the second time this season, and Paulinho is selected for the first time. Kicker also named the Brazilian "player of the day": "After his three moments of brilliance", the "promise for the distant future has suddenly grown quite close."
The Sportschau takes a similar view and included Paulinho, Havertz and Karim Bellarabi in their "team of the matchday". The BILD also awarded top marks and picked out Tapsoba, Havertz and Paulinho with places in their "team of the day".
After just 04 minutes, Havertz was in the right spot in the Bundesliga game against Frankfurt as he converted a cross from Moussa Diaby to open the scoring. That strike was at the same time the 30th Bundesliga goal for the Bayer 04 playmaker. At the age of 20 years and 270 days, Havertz is the youngest player in the history of the Bundesliga to reach that number of goals. The previous record holder was no less than Klaus Fischer – when he set the record back in 1970 he was 15 days older than Havertz when he reached the same number of goals.
Two goals scored plus an impressive assist: By being directly involved in three goals and with a pass rate of 88%, Paulinho played a key role in achieving the seventh home win in succession across all competitions.
N.B.: No other player in Europe's top five leagues were involved in as many goals at the weekend.
Werkself head coach Peter Bosz was also happy with the performance of his team – and, as a reward, he gave his players Sunday off and there was no session planned for Monday before the game against Frankfurt. The only players at the BayArena yesterday were those needing treatment due to the after effects of the match.
Rangers won their last league game ahead of the first leg in the Europa League Round of 16 (Thursday, 12 March, 21.00 CET). The team under head coach Steven Gerrard secured a 1-0 win against Ross County last night. The only goal of the game and scored by Ryan Kent on 77 minutes.
A disciplined defensive performance in the second leg saw Bayer 04 prevail against Olympiacos in the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26. Thanks to the 2-0 away win in the first leg, the goalless draw at home at the BayArena was enough to ensure progress to the next round. The Black and Reds kept their opponents away from their goal for the best part of 90 minutes.
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Bayer 04 can go through to the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League for the ninth time tonight, 24 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET) and be in the top 16 clubs in Europe. A good omen: Leverkusen have progressed to the next round after winning the first leg in 20 of their 22 knockout rounds in European competitions to date. For their part, Greek record champions Olympiacos rested several players for last weekend’s league fixture ahead of the play-off second leg at the BayArena and will now do everything in their power to turn the tide with their usual aggressive and high pressing. The discussions on Werkself radio are likely to be just as intense as the battle on the pitch, with commentator Florian Bechholz welcoming honorary captain Stefan Kießling and goalkeeper Mark Flekken. Today’s matchday news.
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With the advantage of the 2-0 first-leg win in the play-offs, the Werkself are looking to book their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League at the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the home game against Olympiacos on Tuesday, 24 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET), coach Kasper Hjulmand and goalkeeper Janis Blaswich spoke about the position ahead of the match, the visitors' strength at set-pieces and a personnel issue for the home side.
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With a win in the Greek Super League last weekend, Olympiacos achieved success on the pitch ahead of the UEFA Champions League play-off second leg at Bayer 04 on Tuesday, 24 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET). Coach José Luis Mendilibar rested many of his regular starters.
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