What the papers say: Between 'exhibition' and 'walk in the park'
The Werkself have received plenty of praise and recognition in the media after the impressive 4-0 victory over Slavia Prague at the end of the group stages of the UEFA Europa League.
"Easy group win" is the headline in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger and the report reads: "There was no strict approach to the battle for first place in the group on Thursday night at the BayArena. That would have required two teams striving for victory. Indeed, Bayer 04 Leverkusen strolled to a 4-1 win over Slavia Prague, who were incredibly weak at times, to secure good position for the Europa League Round of 32 draw on Monday in Nyon (13.00 CET) and an additional bonus of €1 million. In addition, the Werkself worked on their outstanding first half of the season stats: It was the twelfth win in 17 games with four draws and just one defeat – suffered in the game in Prague with a man down."
"Bailey show and goals record"
The Bild Zeitung highlights the scorer of the brace for the Werkself: "Bailey show and goals record. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bayer Leverkusen beat Slavia Prague 4-0 in the final for the top spot in Group C the Europa League. The Werkself scored a total of 21 goals in the group stage – no other German team has scored as many in this competition. […] Leon Bailey was able to 'run riot' for 45 minutes – he laid on the next show. Bailey: 'It was a great team performance with a clean sheet.' The Jamaican stood out with his brace. Karim Bellarabi set up Bailey's first goal (8'). The second (32') was a tap-in after Patrik Schick hit the post with a flying header."
Two main characters: Leon Bailey (r.) and Daley Sinkgraven had a great game against Slavia Prague.
Just like the Bild Zeitung, the Rheinische Post awarded Bailey's display top marks. And the assessment of the performance of Daley Sinkgraven was no less positive: "The Dutchman set up the opener for Leon Bailey with a defence-splitting pass to Karim Bellarabi. Bayer's number 22, playing on the left side of midfield, showed he could do much more than just defend. His tap-in for the would-be second goal (26') was adjudged to have been offside – an error by the match official. He did set up the goal to make it 3-0 (59')."
One goal for the all-time record
And the online edition of the kicker looks at the outstanding Leverkusen attack: "Leverkusen set a record early in the game – at least a domestic one. Ahead of the game against Slavia Prague, the Peter Bosz team had scored 17 goals in the Europa League group stage, which is as many as Werder Bremen in 2009 and Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019. No other German team has scored more in the history of this competition (since 2008) – until Leon Bailey netted the opening goal for Leverkusen on Thursday night. […] In the end, there was one goal missing to equal the all-time Europa League record. Napoli with Gonzalo Higuain, José Callejon and Dries Mertens scored 22 goals in the group stage under Maurizio Sarri in 2015/16. At the end of the day, anything but an unachievable target for Leverkusen when you remember that Bayer 04 had goals ruled out for apparent offside both in the 3-2 win against Nice and also against Slavia Prague this Thursday."
It was a special moment for him too: Niklas Lomb played in the Europa League again eight years and four days after his debut. He kept a clean sheet as in 2012 against Rosenborg (1-0). He richly deserved congratulations from sporting director Simon Rolfes (r.) and goalkeeping coach David Thiel.
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