In the first half, Bayer 04 are playing into a low sun and very strong wind. Leverkusen are unable to make the most of dominating possession. The two sides going goalless at half-time.
After the restart, the hosts are camped in the opposition half. Dr Klaus Heydenreich, with an assist from Hans-Otto Peters, gives Bayer 04 the deserved lead at 1-0 on 50 minutes with the help of the wind. A minute later, with a counter-attack from Herten, goalkeeper Friedhelm Renno makes a save with a full-length dive. He collides with a Herten player and both fall to the ground. But the Bayer keeper does not get up again. He has broken his ankle. Renno is carried off on a stretcher and defender Werner Biskup pulls on the keeper’s shirt.
With eleven against ten, the visitors sense a chance and pepper the stand-in goalkeeper. But he not only surprises the spectators. Diving, catching and punching he keeps a clean sheet. And the ten Leverkusen players not only resist but also go on the front foot. Heydenreich increases the lead with two more goals on 65 and 80 minutes to make it 3-0 and clock up a hat-trick. The fourth goal on 85 minutes is scored by the young Hans-Joachim Wöhler who made the step up to the first team from the youth ranks in the summer. Werner Biskup did have to pick the ball out of the back of the net in the end. But that doesn't matter as all the Bayer 04 fans go home happy after the 4-1 win. New Year's Eve 1963 can come.
Bayer 04 started the new season on 20 July 1950. To the applause from almost 2,000 spectators, the Werkself stepped onto the pitch at the Am Stadtpark stadium and the season target was clear to the supporters: finally achieve promotion to the Oberliga West. Under the direction of new coach Raymond Schwab, who brought one of his Essen players with him in the shape of Karl-Heinz Spikofski, the team did a couple of laps. Coach Schwab gave a speech in front of all the fans where he clearly imparted his request for calm in the stands and he said he hated nothing more than heckling or laughing when mistakes are made. He hoped the Bayer 04 supporters would follow his advice.
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Horst Knauf was born in Cologne on 16 August 1960. As a teenager he played for PSV Köln before signing for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen U19s as a talented midfielder in 1976. He made the move up from the second team to the Bundesliga squad in 1980. Over the following three years he played 39 Bundesliga games and scored two goals. Above all in the difficult 1981/82 season for the Werkself with the play-off games against Kickers Offenbach, he played a big part in saving Bayer 04 with 21 appearances. But under the new coach Dettmar Cramer he rarely made a start and he decided to move on.
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Holger Aden was born in Hamburg on 25 August 1965. He learned all about playing football and, above all, scoring goals at the two Hamburg clubs Niendorfer TSV and TSV DuWo 08 Hamburg. After progression from the youth teams, he played for other Hamburg clubs. One after the other he appeared for Concordia Hamburg, Altona 93 and SC Norderstedt. The centre-forward regularly found the back of the opposition net. He scored 22 goals for SC Norderstedt in the 1988/89 season.
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Michael Ballack was born in Görlitz in the GDR on 26 September 1976. He displayed his talent for football at a young age. After his family moved to Karl-Marx-Stadt, now called Chemnitz, he started playing for BSG Motor ‘Fritz Heckert’ Karl-Marx-Stadt where he constantly continued to develop his ability on the pitch. From year seven he went to the children and youth sports college and there he received systematic support in sport that led, against the background of his increasing ability, to a move to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt. At the age of 16, he had to take a six-month break due to growing pains, but then there was no stopping Michael after that.
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In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of August. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
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