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Bayer 04 take the lead on six minutes through Ulf Kirsten and lose two players within 30 seconds on 28 minutes after second yellow cards: Markus Münch and the goalscorer. A third Werkself player is sent off on 63 minutes when Carsten Ramelow gets his marching orders. The seven outfield players battle for 30 minutes in and around the penalty area to deny an equaliser. Wave after wave of attacks roll towards the Bayer 04 goal. Schalke only manage to level the scores at 1-1 on 89 minutes. Bayer 04 are in a relegation battle up to the end of the season and only finally avoid the drop on the final matchday. But more on that next month…
The 2003/04 season gets off to a very good start. Bayer 04 are in the leading group straightaway and are third at the end of the first half of the season on 35 points, level with second-placed Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart in fourth, and only four points behind league leaders Werder Bremen. But form drops off after the winter break with just one point picked up in six games.
At the home game against VfL Wolfsburg, the North Stand is empty for the first 15 minutes as the fans protest with a banner left on the fence: “We don’t support alibi football.” The response from the team comes after a few seconds when Dimitar Berbatov scores the opener. The game ended in a 4-2 victory for the Werkself.
That was the start of the race to get to the Champions League spots, which included a 6-0 victory over FC Kaiserslautern that remains the biggest Bundesliga home win for Bayer 04.The Werkself end the league campaign in third place and qualify for the Champions League.
Michal ‘Katsche’ Kadlec was born in the Czech town of Vyskov on 13 December 1984. At the age of six, he moved to the Pfalz region in Germany with his parents because his father Miroslav accepted an offer from FC Kaiserslautern where he played as a sweeper for the Red Devils for eight years. Katsche learned German in the kindergarten at Kaiserslautern. And he played football at an early age: first as a teenager at SV Alsenborn and then for FC Kaiserslautern.
Show moreHelmut Röhrig was born in Leverkusen on 14.12.19 44. He learned to play football at Bayer 04 and became a Middle Rhine champion with the U19s in 1963 finishing ahead of FC Köln. He played in the second team at the Werkself in his first year in senior football.
Show moreBernd Schuster was born in Augsburg on 22.12.19 59. His first club as a teenager was local side SV Hammerschmiede. From that time there was an anecdote that a former groundsman told us when we had a Pokal game in Augsburg in 1993. Bernd was always the first person on the training ground after school. With a running track around the pitch and goals without nets, the young Bernd practised free kicks and corners in the knowledge that he had to collect the ball himself. In that way he not only practised his technique but also worked on his stamina as a teenager.
Show moreWolfgang ‘Wolle’ Rolff was born on 26.12.1959 in Lamstedt, a community in the Lower Saxony administrative district of Cuxhaven. He started his football career at TSV Lamstedt. He moved on to OSC Bremerhaven with the U17s as he trained to be a retail salesman. He started in senior football at the Nordsee Stadium in Bremerhaven.
Show moreThe 1969/70 season begins with four defeats for Bayer 04. That puts the team coached by Theo Kirchberg bottom of the table. The Werkself only lift themselves out of the relegation zone on Matchday 10 with a 4-2 away win in Marl-Hüls. The position in the table improves over the course of the season.
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