What the papers say: 'Bayer beat themselves'

The report in Welt am Sonntag has the headline,'Bayer beat themselves'. And the article reads: "Jhon Cordoba rewarded FC on 74 minutes with the crucial opening goal to take his team away from the bottom of the table. But Leverkusen made the game easy for the hosts: Aleksandar Dragovic was sent off for two bookings (62') and Leon Bailey was dismissed for violent conduct (77'). Playing against nine men, Sebastiaan Bornauw made it 2-0 with a header (84')."

Bayer 04 failed to make headway from their own actually more mature approach was the analysis in the kicker. "It was a wild hunt with constantly changing possession and FC were mostly successful in disrupting Leverkusen's attempt to find solutions with their running and commitment," was in the online report by the specialist magazine. "The far superior Bayer again and again got caught up in their perpetual attempts to build up moves by the in-depth defence of the hard tackling 'Goats' eleven that worked hard to close down spaces."

Record falls flat for Havertz

The report in the Tagesspiegel picks on the record match for Kai Havertz and reports: "For Germany's probably biggest football talent, Leverkusen's Kai Havertz, the working day began with a milestone. Havertz became the youngest player in the history of the Bundesliga to make 100 apperances on Saturday when the Rhine derby between FC Köln and Bayer Leverkusen kicked off." The journal also notes: "Neither the Germany international or his team-mates at Bayer 04 could have been happy with the way the afternoon ended. (…) One reason is the dismissal of Leverkusen's Aleksandar Dragovic (two yellow cards) and Leon Bailey (straight red)."

Sending-offs the turning point

The two sendings-off are obviously a big issue in most of the other reports. RP Online highlights the premonition of managing director Rudi Völler: "He saw it coming. Rudi Völler knew exactly what the Werkself would face in Cologne. The sporting managing director at Bayer Leverkusen has been in the game long enough to recognise the explosive nature of the Rhine derby – and the tricks and tactics of the actually inferior opponents. The 59-year-old emphasised that there had been discussions within the club ahead of the 63rd meeting.' No stupid fouls and don't get provoked,' was the order of the day. And yet: but that is exactly what happened and it led to a 2-0 defeat for the Werkself against relegation candidates FC Köln." Both situations are discussed as follows: "Aleksandar Dragovic was first shown an unjustified and then a justified yellow card and he was sent off (62'); 22 minutes after coming off the bench, Leon Bailey caught Kingsley Ehizibue in the face and he was shown a red card four minutes after the opening goal (77')."

Bender expects apology

The dubious first booking for Aleksandar Dragovic is also taken up by the Bild am Sonntag. "Völler attempted to speak to referee Gräfe at the end of the match. That was about the first yellow card for a Dragovic foul on Drexler (…) Dragovic maintained that Gräfe admitted during the game that it wasn't a yellow card," reports the tabloid and quotes the Werkself defender as follows: "The first yellow card was a clear foul against me. That's what the referee said to me and he apologised. It’s annoying he wasn't able to take back the booking. But you can't blame the ref. We didn't have any real chances on goal and that's down to us."

Ultimately, the second red card of the day for Leon Bailey also plays a part in the reporting. SPIEGEL ONLINE reports: "The Jamaican again lost control in the derby defeat against FC Köln as he struck his opponent Kingsley Ehizibue in the face (77 minutes). Bailey was sent off 22 minutes after he came on as a substitute.' It's not the first red card and I expect an apology,' said Bayer captain Lars Bender in an interview with Sky: 'There are lads on the pitch who worked so hard for 70 minutes and then they have to try and compete with nine men. He did us a bad turn.'"