Diego Placente, who stood out primarily with his tactical understanding and his ball-winning ability, played at left-back where he supported technical players like Zé Roberto and Yildiray Bastürk. But he also had to help out as a central defender from time to time, which he mastered in style.
Diego Placente made a total of 123 Bundesliga appearances and he scored three goals in the league. He did not find the back of the net in his 13 DFB Cup ties and 32 Champions League matches playing in our colours. Today he works as a youth coach with the Argentina Football Association and here he is primarily responsible for the U17 and U19 teams as the assistant coach.
A lot of Bayer 04 fans primarily remember a unique save by Diego: It is 30 April 2001 in the final minute of the Champions League semi-final between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Manchester United. The score is 1-1 and the Toppmöller team are giving their all to prevent conceding a second goal as that would mean being knocked out. Jörg Butt punched a cross out of the penalty area from outside the six-yard box and the ball landed at the feet of Diego Forlan and he hit it straight back over all the players towards the goal. The shot looked to be going in – and then Diego Placente made the save with a flying header. Never before – and I maintain never afterwards – was such a save, including saves from goalkeepers, cheered so loudly and enthusiastically as this flying header.
Feliz Cumpleaños, Diego and stay healthy.
Jacek Krzynowek was born on 15 May 1976 in Kamiensk, Poland, and grew up as a typical country boy. He spent his childhood less in structured training sessions and more on simple pitches, where he spent hours playing football with older boys. He realised early on that he had exceptional shooting power and enormous stamina. But for a long time, he didn't appreciate just how much talent he had. While others dream of a great career, professional football initially seems like a distant world to him that he only knows from television.
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Carsten ‘Calle’ Ramelow was born in Berlin on 20 March 1974. He began his football career in the youth teams at Tasmania 73, Tennis Borussia, SC Siemensstadt and, last but not least, Hertha Berlin. It was here that he reached the DFB Pokal final in 1993 with the Hertha Bubis team, the amateur team at Hertha Berlin, against his future employer Bayer 04 Leverkusen. But even he was unable to prevent the Werkself's 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Ulf Kirsten.
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The 1995/1996 season brought some innovations. For the first time, each player was given a squad number with his name printed on the back of the jersey. For the first time, coaches were allowed to make three substitutions and for the first time, three points are awarded for a win. And for the first time, I am no longer my team's number 1. I wear it on my back, but Dirk Heinen has taken over me in goal. So at first I sat on the bench a bit offended, but in the Rückrunde I realised I also had to make my contribution to the success of a team.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of May. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen, promoted to the Oberliga West, welcome VfL 99 Köln for the last game of a successful season. This time, the crowd of just 2,000 spectators saw more of a friendly than a championship match. Little fight, little goalmouth action and few moves in midfield to warm the hearts of the spectators. It takes a corner to give Bayer 04 the lead. Peter Röger is on hand with his head and nods home on 43 minutes for the half-time lead. When Karl-Heinz Spikofski increased the lead to 2-0 a quarter of an hour after the restart, the result was settled. The team from Cologne were able to reduce the deficit to 2-1 in the final minute, but in the end the spectators went home looking forward to the first season for a Bayer 04 team in Oberliga West 1.
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