The Berliner Morgenpost believes the Werkself were "distracted and careless from the start and their approach provided unexpected help for the neighbours." And the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger was surprised by the Bayer 04 display in the 62nd Bundesliga derby and added: "It was bewildering how readily Heiko Herrlich's team, without Lars Bender (injured) and Kevin Volland (birth of his daughter), fell into all the traps almost voluntarily after a run of ten away games without defeat. Poor passes, pointless dribbling and weak challenges led to losing possession and FC Köln counter-attacks that put the Werkself under constant pressure. The rest was down to individual errors." The Frankfurter Allgemeine reports: "In all aspects of the game – breaking moves down, tackling and challenging, one-on-ones, the will to win– the relegation-threatened big club were superior to their neighbours positioned much higher up the table."
According to the report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, "the favourites from the other side of the Rhine played more or less as coach Heiko Herrlich had feared in public when he provided his preview of the derby, specifically warning against FC Köln's quality. In spite of that, his team demonstrated inexplicable lethargy against their opponents with the highly talented forward line of Kai Havertz, Leon Bailey and Julian Brandt leading the way.".The Rheinische Post adopted a similar view with the reporter focusing on the importance of attitude in football that Heiko Herrlich often talks about and the game was summed up under the headline 'Köln's mentality beats Bayer's quality.'
The Tagesspiegel writes that the Bayer 04 game did liven up with the introduction of Joel Pohjanpalo at the start of the second half, "but, other than good chances for Julian Brandt and Sven Bender, there wasn't much doing. The result was settled by Simon Zoller when he exploited a mistake by Charles Aranguiz to easily make it 2-0." That means Bayer 04 have missed "the chance to improve their position in terms of the four Champions League spots. The team under coach Heiko Herrlich remain in fifth place." (Ruhr Nachrichten)
In addition to the many unusual defects in the Werkself game, the press focus on the red card shown to Lucas Alario (33') – the Kölnische Rundschau identified the violent conduct of the Werkself's Argentinian striker as the "crucial moment in Leverkusen's game," as he "made it more difficult for his team to get back into the game." (Frankfurter Allgemeine) – "The Bayer coach Heiko Herrlich had warned his players before the derby and pointed out they had to keep control of their nerves in spite of the emotion of the game." (Kölnische Rundschau)
The Kicker highlights an unenviable statistic in this respect: "For the fourth time this season after the matches against Leipzig, Dortmund and Schalke. Bayer, with 35 red cards before half-time the holders of an unenviable Bundesliga record, only picked up two points in those four games."
Kicking off the new season with a fresh look: Bayer 04, in collaboration with sportswear manufacturer New Balance, has unveiled the official kit for Leverkusen’s e-Sports players for the coming season. The jersey is now available from the Bayer 04 online shop and the Fanwelt.
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Paulo Sergio and Bayer 04 have enjoyed close ties since the Werkself training camp in his native Brazil last summer. The club legend is in charge of the Bayer 04 Soccer Academy, which opened in the summer of 2025, and he has also been at this year’s training camp in the Weimarer Land. As well as interacting with the many fans who travelled to the camp, the 1994 World Cup winner used the time to plan the next steps for the Academy together with club officials. In an interview with bayer04.de, Sergio spoke about the project’s future development, the upcoming visit by young Academy players to Leverkusen, and plans for the coming months in Germany and Brazil.
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A round-up of the Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land, all in one place: in our daily blog you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day five (Thursday 6 August) is as follows: The squad have the final open session of the training camp in the morning. After lunch, there will be a team event.
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A round-up of the Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land, all in one place: in our daily blog you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day four (Wednesday 5 August) is all about training. The day begins with a gruelling open training session – new signing Miguel Gutiérrez also takes part. A second session follows in the afternoon, this time behind closed doors.
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At the training camp in the Weimarer Land region, Bayer 04 head coach Carles Martínez and his long-standing assistant Pol García talk about their first few weeks with the Werkself, their expectations of their own work, the coaching staff and the squad, as well as the style of football they want the team to play. They emphasise the importance of a winning mentality within the team, comment on cultural and personal differences in the world of football, and outline their goals for the coming season...
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