Despite the heavy workload that the coach Christoph Daum imposed on his players, the results speak for themselves: 4-0 against the Czech second division side Vitkovice, 3-0 against the USA team Orlando Sundogs and, above all, the 2-1 victory over Bundesliga rivals Hamburg SV.
Five years later, the second half of the season started after the winter break with matchday 19. Hansa Rostock visited the BayArena on 26 January 2002. The league leaders Bayer 04 started with a late but deserved 2-0 win. During the winter break, coach Klaus Toppmöller familiarised his players with "sensible football". It says a lot for the morale of the group that they kept coming back after going behind but the constant effort was not easily repeated. That led to this unspectacular but patient and "sensible" regulation win.
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Bayer 04 fans had to wait until the 76th minute for the opener from Boris Zivkovic. All worries were put aside four minutes later when Michael Ballack converted a penalty. The Werkself felt well-equipped for the top game a week later against the reigning German champions Bayern Munich at the Olympic Stadium in Munich.
The video includes a three-minute summary of the match against Hansa Rostock.
Harry Gniech was born on 14 October 1951 in Leverkusen-Schlebusch. At the age of six, he joined SV Bayer 04, initially in the athletics section. The boy actually wanted to play football, but was only allowed to switch to the football team when he turned nine. Harry quickly established himself as a playmaker in midfield. Despite his talent, the path from the youth team to the first-team squad was a long one back then. In the 1973–74 season, his former U19 coach, Friedhelm Renno – who was by then in charge of Bayer 04’s first team – selected him for his first match with the professional squad.
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Henrique Adriano Buss, known as Henrique, was born on 14 October 1986 in Marechal Cândido Rondon, a town in the Brazilian state of Paraná. At the age of 13, he joined Coritiba FC and made the step up to the first team in 2006. Henrique helped the team gain promotion to the Brazilian top flight and then moved on to Palmeiras FC. After just five matches for his new club, the 1.85-metre-tall centre-back was signed by Barcelona in 2008 for ten million euros and loaned to Bayer 04 for one year for a fee of €400,000.
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Constant Djakpa was born on 17 October 1986 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He started playing football at the age of five. He took his first steps in professional football at Stella Club d’Adjamé, before moving on to Sogndal IL in Norway. His path eventually led him to Germany via the Romanian club Pandurii Târgu Jiu.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of October. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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In the first week of October 1966, professional footballers decided to take an unusual step – they went on strike. They felt compelled to resort to this action, which was relatively uncommon until then, to give greater weight to their demands for fair pay. They reasoned that, with three draws, they were entitled to a bonus; at the very least, a points bonus of 75 Deutschmarks that was agreed before the start of the season.
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