I thank you for twelve years of commitment, battle and passion for my club. Now you are ending your career together with your brother Sven – as is fitting for twins. With you I always knew what I'd get on the pitch. I loved watching you play!
For your future, I wish good health for you and your family, a role that fulfils you and one or two visits to the BayArena. Whenever we two 'football pensioners' meet again, you can tell me whether the legend is right. All the best, Lars!
The video clip shows you one or two highlights from Lars' twelve years at Bayer 04.
21 May is also the 25th anniversary of another end of a career. 2 days after the relegation thriller against FC Kaiserslautern, Rudi Völler played his personal farewell game at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. In front of a full house, 'Rudi's friends' played against Germany, the future you champions of Europe, and lost narrowly (1-2).
In the morning, Rudi asked me to come to the game as the second goalkeeper amongst his invited friends had to cry off at the last moment. Rudi played alongside his friends in the first half and with the national team in the second half and that was against me because I was allowed to play in the second half. I knew Rudi would be substituted on 70 minutes and that would obviously be after a goal if possible.
After I pulled off two terrific saves within a few minutes to keep out a shot and a header from Rudi, time was getting tight. The ball came into the penalty area around 75 minutes, I saw Rudi unmarked in front of me and he headed straight at my legs. I didn't manage to hold onto the ball and it ended up in the back of the net. So Rudi was able to do his well-deserved lap of honour.
Zoltan Sebescen was born on 1 October 1975 in Ehingen and he started playing football as a child. His talent stood out early on and he was accepted into the youth section at Stuttgarter Kickers in 1982. There he progressed through all the youth teams and continued to develop. His breakthrough in the men's game came in the mid-1990s, when he moved up to the Kickers first team squad. With his speed, dynamism and attacking drive, he soon made a name for himself beyond the region. He and his team were promoted from the Regional League South to Bundesliga 2 in 1996 and stayed in the league with Stuttgart for three years.
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Jens Nowotny was born on 11 January 1974 in Malsch, Baden-Württemberg. As a youngster, he played for SV Spielberg and Germania Friedrichstal and later joined the youth section at Karlsruher SC. As a 15-year-old, he became an integral part of the DFB national youth set-up and played for all of the Germany junior teams. One highlight was an U15 international against England at Wembley.
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It is Tuesday, 20 October 2015 - a Champions League night at the BayArena. The visitors: AS Roma. What awaits the spectators is a memorable football match full of drama, speed and emotion. The Werkself get off to a flying start and literally overrun the slightly favoured Italians in the early stages. The scoreline was 2-0 after just twenty minutes - both goals were scored by Mexico international Chicharito. Bayer 04 put the visitors under constant pressure with their aggressive pressing and bold attacking play and even had a chance to make it 3-0. Then the AS Roma captain Daniele De Rossi brought his team back into the game with a brace making it 2-2 at half-time.
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In the video you can see impressive and important goals in Bayer 04 history 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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On 23 October 1960, a highly anticipated local derby took place in the DFB Pokal, which the team had to qualify for via the regional association cup competitions at the time: SV Schlebusch hosted the Werkself from Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Around 2,000 spectators flocked to the "Am Bühl" stadium to watch the game kicking off at 3 pm.
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