"Hertha inflict serious blow on Leverkusen's Champions League ambitions with a 2-0 victory," is the summary in kicker online. "The Berliners shocked the initially very dominant Werkself by taking the lead out of the blue," added the sports journal, and said that Bayer 04 "were frustrated by a brilliant defensive performance from their opponents."
The Werkself are at least praised for the opening stages of the game. "In the first quarter of an hour, it looked as if the team under coach Peter Bosz had travelled to the Olympic Stadium with enough confidence," analysed the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. "Hertha were struggling to prevent the Werkself creating good chances on goal. But with the opening strike they pulled the plug on Bayer 04."
RP Online provides a similar description of the unfortunate course of the first 25 minutes at the Olympic Stadium. The journal tributes "motivated" to the "start by the visitors with threats particularly coming from their wingers Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey. The best chances in a good start to the game fell to Kai Havertz (5') and Kevin Volland (6')." However, then there is the big but: "The fact the Werkself did not take their chances came back to haunt them. Matheus Cunha rounded off the first really successful move by Hertha to make it 1-0 (22') – Bayer keeper Lucas Hradecky stood no chance with the shot from 14 metres out."
The rest of the match draws the following analysis from FAZ: "Hertha were very defensive after taking the lead and worked hard to close space down. Leverkusen moved well up to the box but the final pass often went astray." The assessment is therefore short and succinct: "The Berliners were more effective than Leverkusen."
The WELT AM SONNTAG provides a remarkable fact in the unfortunate performance by the Werkself: "Bayer 04 Leverkusen failed to score in the Bundesliga for the first time since the 1-0 defeat earlier in the season against Hertha. The Werkself have only lost both games this season against the team from Berlin."
There is now only a glimmer of hope for next Saturday due to the opponents’ performance highly praised by the media. "Ahead of the final matchday, Bayer must hope for the next step forward for Berlin," writes the EXPRESS. "As Hertha are then away to Champions League rivals Gladbach."
The BILD am Sonntag clearly states the position before the final matchday: "Leverkusen have to win (against Mainz), and Gladbach lose (against Hertha)." The tabloid does show another route to the Champions League for the Werkself: "Or: Leverkusen win the Europa League in August. As the winners automatically qualify for the Champions League."
Once again, well over 100 Werkself fans were delighted to receive an invitation from the club’s record appearance-maker, Rüdiger Vollborn, to the sold-out Schwadbud at the BayArena. This time, the supporters listened as the club historian provided fascinating, exclusive insights into the period from Bayer 04 being founded in 1904 to the club’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979. A journey through time is also planned for the upcoming ‘Rudi lädt ein’ event in early November – this time focusing on the years of the Nazi regime.
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Happy children’s faces at the SSV Lützenkirchen training ground: For the 25th time, the Birkenberg soccer school – organised by SportBund Leverkusen – offered participating youngsters an exciting holiday activity. Meeting a Bayer 04 player has now become a cherished tradition. This time, Ibrahim Maza visited the 150 children and spoke to them about his World Cup experiences, amongst other things. “It’s always lovely to see the children’s enthusiasm for football,” said the 20-year-old, after bringing a sparkle to many eyes with selfies and autographs.
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One day after the successful DFB Pokal first round tie at SV Wehen Wiesbaden (4–0), the mood was understandably really good: Over 400 Bayer 04 supporters gathered on Sunday, 23 August, for the annual fan club meet-up at the BayArena and got in the mood for the new season through direct and informal discussions with Bayer 04 management, head coach Carles Martínez and Werkself players.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 2-0 win at RB Leipzig on the 1st matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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