What the papers say: 'Dominant and ultimately clinical'

The headline in the online subscription edition of the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger reads, "Dominant and ultimately clinical": "The system, reminiscent of Pep Guardiola's football, of the Dutch coach Bosz  with the young stars Brandt and Havertz in the main roles is already proving reliable in the Bundesliga. Teams like Freiburg and Düsseldorf are clearly massively inferior to them. On the other hand, teams like Dortmund exploited the lack of efficiency and the tendency for Leverkusen to slip-up in defence. Putting that right would be the next step."

The Sonntags Express names another important insight in addition to the victory for the Werkself: "Finally! Bayer Leverkusen have not been able to celebrate a win at carnival time for five years. Now they've got it right again. Following the 2-0 victory over SC Freiburg, the Bayer players can afford to be in party mood on Rose Monday. The Werkself  produced a great performance. The win for the team under coach Peter Bosz (55) was never in danger. ' We controlled the game for ninety minutes  and scored the second goal at the right time. There's nothing to moan about today', said Kevin Volland."

The online edition of the Rheinische Post focuses on the 'carnival curse': Over the past few years, carnival and home games for Bayer 04 have not really gone together. The last win on a carnival weekend for the Werkself was a 4-1 victory against Augsburg in 2012. This time it was clear early on that three points were on the cards. The Werkself came onto the pitch with a sense of purpose and were able to celebrate after just four minutes. A deflection from a corner found Charles Aránguiz in exactly the right spot and he volleyed the ball into the net to make it 1-04 the hosts."

The review in the Bild am Sonntag recalls that the Leverkusen coach is not clocking up impressive results for the first time in a new post: "Specialist starter Peter Bosz (55)! At Dortmund, he won six of the first seven league games. At Leverkusen, the 2-0 win against Freiburg is the fifth win in seven games. Bayern are the only team to have done better since the winter break. Aránguiz with a hammer of a volley (4') and Bailey with his knee (73') scored the goals."

The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) sees the victory as seasonal: "Peter Bosz was in generous mood. ' The players can celebrate,' was the response from the Bayer coach after the 2-0 win for his Leverkusen team against SC Freiburg. … The Werkself cannot and will not permit a real booze-up although there would be good reason for it. The fifth win in the second half of the season in the ninth game under Bosz puts Bayer back on course for a European finish. However, 39 points after 24 games does not provide a full prediction of which way it will turn out. Goalkeeper Hradecky ventured to look forward. ' It's not impossible  to finish in the top four.'"

The online edition of the Freiburg-based Badische Zeitung highlights the dominance of the Werkself: "The Sport Club had high hopes at Leverkusen. But Freiburg were fighting a lost cause yesterday against the strong Rhinelanders. In the end they lost 2-0 in a game broadly dominated by the Bosz team. Before the game, the SC coach Christian Streich declared SC would not rely on just defending at Leverkusen. But it turned out differently. On Bundesliga matchday 24, Bayer 04 were so dominant that Freiburg could do nothing else than work hard in and around their own box for much of the game. They had very few chances of their own."