History: 25 years ago – The 2001/02 ‘treble runners-up’ season (November)

And the match against Kaiserslautern began just like so many others in recent weeks – the opposition took the lead and sat deep in their own half. The FCK defensive strategy was paying off, but Michael Ballack increasingly took control of the game. He launched one dangerous attack after another and, just over half an hour into the match, he equalised with an assist from Bernd Schneider. After the break, the Werkself benefit from a rather harsh penalty decision in the 50th minute. Kaiserslautern centre-back Harry Koch pushes centre-forward Ulf Kirsten, and referee Florian Meyer awards a penalty to the horror of the Palatinate side. Michael Ballack coolly converted the spot kick: Bayer 04 lead 2–1. FCK then opened up, creating the odd chance on goal, but were thwarted either by goalkeeper Jörg Butt or by their own nerves. Following the final whistle, this victory saw Bayer 04 move into second place behind Bayern Munich.

Big Bayer 04 contingent in Germany line-up

The next two weeks were dominated by the World Cup qualifying decider against Ukraine. With Jens Nowotny, Carsten Ramelow, Bernd Schneider and Michael Ballack, four Leverkusen players are in the starting line-up for the first leg in Kyiv. Michael Ballack scored the equaliser in the 31st minute, meaning the Germany, under coach Rudi Völler, went into the return leg on 14 November in Dortmund feeling confident. This time, Oliver Neuville is also on the pitch, and the Bayer 04 players spur their team-mates on. In the ‘Leverkusen attacking whirlwind’ (Kicker, 15 November 2001), the Ukrainians found themselves 3-0 down after 15 minutes following goals from Michael Ballack, Oliver Neuville and Marco Rehmer. In the end, Germany secured a commanding 4–1 victory – their place at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea was assured.

Derby win

Three days later, the Bundesliga derby was played at the Müngersdorf Stadium. FC Köln, on 8 points and in 16th place, opted for a defensive approach in front of 41,000 spectators. And their tactics pay off. The score was 0–0 at half-time. A blow for the Werkself: Bernd Schneider, celebrating his birthday, had to be substituted in the 38th minute due to a muscle strain and was replaced by Zoltan Sebescen. After the break, referee Uwe Kemmling sent off FC Köln player Jens Keller for a second yellow card offence. Nevertheless, FC Köln took the lead with ten men. That goal served once again as a wake-up call for the Werkself. Bayer 04 now created chance after chance, and in the 63rd minute Ulf Kirsten netted the leveller. When Oliver Neuville then scored the winner nine minutes later. Bayer 04 kept FC Köln at bay and returned to Leverkusen with three points in the bag. Thanks to Bayern Munich’s defeat in Bremen, the Werkself – still unbeaten on this matchday 13 – took the top spot in the table with 33 points.

turin game in fog 

In the Champions League, Bayer 04 faced extraordinary circumstances at the start of the knockout stage in Turin. Initially, the focus was not on the match itself, but on the thick fog that prevented the game from going ahead at the Stadio delle Alpi on 21 November. The match was rescheduled for 28 November. So the Bayer 04 squad travelled back to Leverkusen, and the team and manager prepared for their next Bundesliga match against Hamburger SV. This match began as usual – with a goal conceded. As early as the 7th minute, Hamburg’s Jörg Albertz scored to make it 1–0 for the northerners. The Bayer 04 fans responded with a loud “Here we go! Here we go!” and were not disappointed by their team. By half-time, Michael Ballack and Oliver Neuville had turned the deficit into a 2–1 lead. After the break, too, only one team dominated – the Werkself. It was Oliver Neuville again, twice, who extended the lead to 4–1. Bayer 04 Leverkusen remained top of the Bundesliga table. With eleven wins and three draws, the Werkself sit at the top of the table, four points ahead of Bayern Munich.

On 27 November 2001, Bayer 04 travelled to Turin once again. However, one day later, the match had to be called off once more due to poor visibility – an unprecedented occurrence in the history of the European Cup up to that point. Following the second postponement, UEFA scheduled the match at short notice for Thursday 29 November at 3 pm, despite both teams’ preference to reschedule it for December or January.  As no accommodation was available in Turin due to a medical conference, Bayer 04 had to relocate to the Aosta Valley, some 100 kilometres away. The team coach did not arrive there until the middle of the night, leaving the players with very little sleep.

disappointing performance even without fog

From a sporting perspective, the afternoon proved more than disappointing. In front of a crowd of just 5,000, Juventus dominated from the outset and took the lead on eight minutes through David Trezeguet. The Werkself then got into the game and had some decent chances to score through Oliver Neuville, Zoltan Sebescen and Lucio. Shortly before half-time, however, Juventus struck again: Alessandro Del Piero made it 2–0 following a counter-attack, before Igor Tudor scored to make it 3–0 just before the half-time whistle. After the break, Juventus allowed Bayer 04 more possession, but the visitors were unable to capitalise on it. Trezeguet scored his second goal on 60 minutes to make it 4–0. In the closing stages, both teams largely let the game run out to its conclusion.

The last-minute rescheduling caused great discontent at Bayer 04. The club’s then commercial director, Wolfgang Holzhäuser, criticised UEFA’s decision as “utterly unprofessional and amateurish” and spoke of a distortion of competition. At the same time, he refused to accept the difficult conditions as the sole explanation for the heavy defeat. Coach Klaus Toppmöller, too, is not looking for excuses. He criticised, above all, the lack of strength in one-on-one challenges, careless loss of possession in midfield and individual errors, which ultimately led to the heavy defeat.