Die Welt declares: "Both teams set out to get on the front foot from the start and provided top entertainment."
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung opts for the headline 'A crazy Sunday afternoon' and reports: "Matches like these, that filled matchday 17 in the Bundesliga with goalmouth action galore, brings fans to the stadiums. With more clinical finishing, the game could have ended with a 6-6 scoreline – with the Leverkusen having a slight advantage. The opening goal scored by the Werkself, one of the many special moments in this memorable encounter, was described as follows: "After a wonderful cross from Lars Bender, Julian Brandt produced a perfect volley to score. The beautiful sound of a footballer striking the ball cleanly and with power and it hitting the back of the net was clearly to be heard in a stadium with little atmosphere."
The Kölner Stadt Anzeiger reports: "Heiko Herrlich left the HDI Arena with a slightly hoarse voice. The Bayer 04 Leverkusen coach and 32,800 spectators witnessed a memorable match in Hanover. 90 exciting, and partly crazy, minutes between (Hannover) 96 and the Werkself ended all square at 4-4. 'A result like that is a cross to bear for us as coaches because, of course, we like to see clean sheets,' said Herrlich. 'If I was to analyse everything in detail with the substitutions and the errors then we'd be here till the morning'.",
The headline in the Kölnische Rundschau: 'Eight goal spectacular'
The summary in the Express: "Incredible, eight goals in a fantastically entertaining Sunday match."
The Bild Zeitung reads, as befits the season: 'Festive eight goal party' and sums up: "A gift of a game! Seven days before 24 December, Hannover and Leverkusen gifted all followers of football eight goals and a wonderful match."
The Werkself conceded a goal at home for the first time since the beginning of January 67 minutes into the game against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday. Jarell Quansah levelled late on for the final score of 1-1 to secure a point and avoid a first home defeat in six games. Bayer 04 were very critical of their performance after the game. The Werkself review.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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From special edition jerseys to fan banners, the home game against Mainz 05 was all about the many Bayer 04 fan clubs. Accordingly, a fitting tribute to the long-standing Werkself supporters was not to be missed during half-time in the Bundesliga match. Fernando Carro, CEO, honoured the up to 50-year anniversaries of six fan clubs in front of the coaches' benches at the BayArena.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-1 draw against Mainz 05 on Matchday 24 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
A late goal secured a point for Bayer 04 at home to FSV Mainz 05 in a match that saw the Black and Reds dominant in the second half. Despite lots of possession, the Werkself initially found few gaps and fell behind after 67 minutes when Sheraldo Becker scored in a Mainz counter-attack. In the closing stages, Leverkusen threw everything forward once again and equalised through Jarell Quansah (88').
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