The Werkself line-up is unchanged from the defeat in Dortmund. The two defences are dominant for long stretches of the game with safety first the byword from the kick-off. Christian Wörns nets the opener on 36 minutes, which forces MSV Duisburg to be more adventurous in the second half. Bayer 04 are unable to exploit the space on offer and the match ends in a deserved 1-0 win and third place in the table behind FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund.
Everything’s set up. Sunday 24 February 2002, 17.30 CET, the floodlights are on for the top of the table clash on matchday 24 between second-placed Bayer 04 and league leaders Borussia Dortmund. The BayArena is sold out with a capacity crowd of 22,500 and all of Leverkusen wants to go top. After an impressive start by the visitors and a goal from the Brazilian player Ewerthon unjustly ruled out, the team under coach Klaus Toppmöller wake up. The Werkself miss chance after chance but go 1-0 up on 32 minutes with a goal from Michael Ballack.
The Yellow and Blacks are unable to withstand the Bayer 04 attacks in the second half. With goals from Carsten Ramelow, Oliver Neuville and Dimitar Berbatov, Bayer 04 deservedly seal a 4-0 win and go top of the table. HERE is the footage.
Minas Hantzidis was born on 4 July 1966 in Kettwig, near Essen, and he grew up in Germany. He developed a passion for football at a young age and, whilst still a youth player, moved from Wuppertaler SV to Bayer 04. The attacking and goal-scoring midfielder then made a name for himself in his first senior season at Bayer 04. In the reserve team, he scored goal after goal in the first half of the season, soon began training with the first team and was brought on as a substitute for the first time by manager Erich Ribbeck on 22 November 1985 in a home match against Bayern Munich.
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Sascha was born on 3 July 1986 in Leverkusen. He is the son of former Bundesliga 2 player Manfred Dum, who mainly scored goals for Union Solingen but also played for FC Saarbrücken, SC Freiburg and Wuppertaler SV. Sascha started playing for the youth teams at HSV Langenfeld at an early age. There, he caught the eye of scouts from Bayer 04 and joined the club at a young age. Following a growth spurt in the U15 team, which forced him to take a nine-month break, the left-footed player finally had the ideal conditions to establish himself in the Bayer 04 youth ranks. Even as an U17 player, he made the leap into the U19 team. Blessed with immense pace, Sascha primarily played in attacking midfield. Not the most technically gifted, but possessing a powerful shot, he found himself training with the first team in the summer of 2005 alongside Gonzalo Castro, while he was still a U19 player.
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The Werkself could not have hoped for a better start to the Bundesliga 2 North season in 1976/77. At the end of a week-long training camp in Quickborn, Schleswig-Holstein, coach Willibert Kremer’s side secured two convincing victories over BSC Brunsbüttel (5–0) and TuS Holstein Quickborn (6–0). Following this flying start, Bayer 04 faced a considerably tougher challenge on 23 July 1976 at 19:30 CEST at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against Bundesliga side Karlsruher SC.
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On 27 June 2001, new head coach Klaus Toppmöller and his assistant Peter Hermann led the Werkself out of the changing rooms for their first training session. Joining them as they stepped onto the pitch at training ground 1 were the four new signings: Hans Jörg Butt, Yildiray Bastürk (with special permission from VfL Bochum, as Bayer 04 and VfL had not yet agreed on a transfer fee), Zoltan Sebescen and Michael Zepek, the record holder for appearances for the youth national team.
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Hans Sarpei was born on 28 June 1976 in Tema, Ghana, and came to Germany with his parents at the age of three, where he grew up in Cologne. Even before he was born, his mother and father worked in Hamburg in the import-export sector. There they met an older man who introduced them to German culture and supported them. Out of gratitude, Hans was later given his first name, although this man died before he was born. Hans comes from a sporting family; his older brother Edward and his nephews Hans Nunoo Sarpei and Kingsley Sarpei were or are also professional footballers.
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