“Bailey leads Bayer to victory,” is the headline in the Kölnische Rundschau and the newspaper goes on to describe the Jamaican’s opening goal as follows: “After just five minutes, Bailey scored the opener after a great pass from U21 international Wirtz – all appeared to be going to plan for the favourites. But then the hosts hit back through Acolatse.”
The Werkself did hit back after the brace scored by the Dutchman. The Rheinische Post presents the second Leverkusen goal as follows: “From a corner, Jedvaj powered a header in direction of Levita who did parry the ball but then had to watch as it bounced back off the head of Or Dadia into the net (39’).”
The BILD explicitly mentions the change made by Peter Bosz at half-time that led him to move Leon Bailey into the centre of the attack – and reports: “Then Bailey did a brilliant job with his head when he bravely threw himself towards a cross from Kerem Demirbay, keeper Levita rushed out and caught Bailey on the back of the neck. The double goalscorer could take it – 3-2 (75’).”
Bailey earned even more praise from the Ruhr Nachrichten. “The Jamaican was the outstanding player, scored the opening goal and the crucial third with his head playing as the central striker in spite of only being 1.78 metres tall,” reports the journal.
The scorer of the goal to make it 4-2 is also mentioned positively in many reports. Florian Wirtz “is continuing to work on breaking records,” writes the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. “Set up the first goal and made it 4-2 with an excellent shot. At the age of 17 years and 6 months, the youngest German goalscorer and provider in the Europa League,” says the newspaper about the Werkself youngster who also scored on the first matchday in the 6-2 win against Nice.
Looking at the positions in the group, the EXPRESS reports: “The Werkself took a big step in the direction of the knockout rounds and are on course to be in Europe in the New Year with six points with two games at home in the remaining three matchdays.”
While there are no Bundesliga fixtures during international break, last weekend brought overweight fans from 16 first, second and third tier sides together on the pitch in Leverkusen. Over 200 participants in the health promotion programme 'Football fans in training' (FFIT), organised by Deutsche Krebshilfe (the German cancer support organisation) and the Institute for Therapy and Health Research (IFT-Nord) accepted the invitation from Bayer 04 and Deutsche Krebshilfe on 12 October for the 2024 XXL fans tournament.
Show moreBayer 04 Leverkusen have extended their sponsorship portfolio with the addition of another supporter in the Business Club. GMS Giganetz GmbH and the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal winners have agreed a partnership to 30 June 2026.
Show moreWerkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-1 draw at SV Werder Bremen on matchday 6 of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2024/25...
Show moreA special stage for women's football: When the Bayer 04 Women's team face Werder Bremen on Saturday, 12 October (kick-off: 14.00 CEST), the team led by coach Roberto Pätzold will play in front of an unusually large crowd. 19,000 tickets have already been sold for the big match at the Weserstadion.
Show more