What the papers say: 'Alario rewards Bosz' courageous approach'

"Relieved and satisfied, the Bayer Leverkusen players celebrated their last-minute victory at FSV Mainz 05 with their reconciled fans. The late winner puts the Werkself sixth in the Bundesliga on 28 points and enables them to be able to relax and enjoy Christmas," was the assessment of the current situation at Bayer 04 in the WAZ. "Lucas Alario secured three valuable points in the race for European qualification after the visitors were reduced to ten men on 71 minutes following the dismissal of Wendell for two bookable offences in front of a crowd of 24,345 on Saturday."

The headline of the match report in RP Online reads: 'Bayer 04 end the year with a victory with ten men'. The article says the Werkself have "opted for a peacable end to a turbulent year." However, the late win at Mainz was "hard work". "And also slightly flattering."

VAR centre stage again

The BILD am Sonntag pays particular attention to the decisions determined by VAR. "Both teams had a goal disallowed by the video refs," reported the tabloid. The supposed opening goal from Kevin Volland was described as follows: "Mainz defender Niakhaté wanted to clear the ball on 65 minutes, Amiri intercepts the ball and crosses from the left to put Leverkusen in the lead. So everybody thought! But then the studio in Cologne rolled into action. They saw the following: The ball deflected off Amiri's body onto his hand. The goal was chalked off. Correctly."

The Tagesspiegel sums up the course of the match up to the frenetic closing stages as befits the fourth Sunday of Advent as follows: "With a bit of calm and patience, Christmas can be great. But both teams seriously needed that in the first half – each in their own way: While Leverkusen dominated possession, Mainz had the better chances – including a strike from Adam Szalai ruled out for offside. The same fate hit Leverkusen after the break: With the goal from Kevin Volland, Nadiem Amiri's hand was involved in the build-up. And it was even worse for the visitors when Wendell was then sent off for a second bookable offence."

'Character test passed': Lots of praise for risky finish

Bayer 04 received a lot of praise for being a man down in the closing stages. The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reports: "In contrast to (…) Cologne, the Werkself being reduced to ten men did not make itself felt in Mainz. Indeed, the ten Leverkusen players upped the pressure and took risks. 'Because we wanted to win,' said coach Peter Bosz who brought on striker Alario after the sending off and he was rewarded for his courage."

That assessment was evident in the headline in the online edition of kicker. The headline in sports journal reads: "Alario rewards Bosz' courageous approach" and the report continues: "Bayer (…) contributed to an attacking encounter late on. Bosz brought on Alario in place of Demirbay (81') and thereby set the course for victory. And that's what happened: Havertz intercepted a Niakhaté pass, Zentner saved with his feet. The rebound fell to the captain who squared the ball to Alario for a tap-in at the far post (90+3')."

The EXPRESS describes the performance after the sending off as a "reviver" and the analysis reads: "With a man down, Bayer continued in the same vein and remained committed." The conclusion: "Character test passed!"