What the papers say: 'Leverkusen played out of their skins'

The Rheinische Post sees the meeting of the Werkself and the team from Hessen as a sort of final and assesses the result as follows: "Champions League or not Champions League – that was the question for both teams ahead of the game between Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt. The Werkself needed a win to draw level with the Hessen team in fourth place to turn a theoretical chance of qualification for the Champions League into a more realistic possibility. That worked out perfectly.

The Kölner Stadt Anzeiger reminds us of the opponents the Werkself beat on Sunday: "Wherever Eintracht Frankfurt have played recently football has experienced some emotional high points. The fans sang and celebrated, the teams gave their all on the pitch and provided an incredible result. That was the case on Sunday night at Leverkusen but completely different from what the Hessen team would have wished. Bayer 04 demolished the fourth-placed team with a 6-1 win with all the goals coming in the first half. The Werkself, who have failed to impress at times this season, are now fifth and level on points with Frankfurt ahead of the last two games of the season with qualification for the Champions League in sight."

The Express believes Bayer 04 provided a highlight to an otherwise unremarkable Bundesliga matchday: "One complaint after the next on this Bundesliga weekend! Some complained about VAR and others about themselves. On top of that, there was the 'treat' of the scrappy and disjointed match between Schalke and Augsburg. But that was (almost) forgotten on Sunday evening thanks to a remarkable game. Chants of 'Oh, how beautiful that is' and 'Another one, another one's going in' rang out across the BayArena at the end of the first half. No wonder – what the Bayer Leverkusen players conjured up in the first 45 minutes made the description of 'attacking spectacle' somewhat of an understatement."

The Bild Zeitung shows sympathy with the Hessen team: "The European Eagles didn't deserve this disaster. Three days after the sensational battle in the Europa League semi-final against Chelsea (1-1), Frankfurt were torn apart by Leverkusen."

Philipp Selldorf in the Süddeutsche Zeitung picks out one exemplary moment: "This Leverkusen team, and not just to the affected Frankfurter team, appeared to be playing out of their skins from the start which was exemplified 20 minutes into the game with a move that saw Julian Brandt flick the ball in the air onto Kai Havertz who headed it back for Brandt to pick out Kevin Volland on the other wing who then… yes, at that moment Frankfurt must have been aware that this opponent presented a serious problem today – and then the next moment the ball was in the back of the net again."

Other notable headlines and media reaction after this real football fest at the BayArena. The Rhein-Main Zeitung sums up the events from a Frankfurt perspective: "In the eye of the storm."

Kicker named Charles Aránguiz player of the day with the following explanation: "He provided two assists and scored a brilliant goal himself. Beyond that, the Chilean was at the centre of the action in midfield, winning possession, organising the counter pressing and constantly feeding his team-mates. A combination of power, organisation and skill." And the team of the day could be a record with seven of eleven positions filled by Werkself players: Tah, Sven Bender, Baumgartlinger, Aránguiz, Havertz, Brandt and Alario.