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The first Champions League game of the 2004/05 season is on 15 September 2004. The Werkself had just lost 2-0 away to newly promoted Mainz 05 four days before although they did win the last Bundesliga home game almost three weeks before that with an impressive 4-1 victory over Bayern Munich. Within seven minutes, between minutes 52 and 59, Franca with a brace and Dimitar Berbatov increased the half-time lead of 1-0 from a goal scored by the Bulgarian centre forward to an incredible 4-0. Michael Ballack scored a consolation goal for FC Bayern on 84 minutes.
The Werkself are on the front foot from the start on Wednesday night in front of a full house of 22,500 spectators at the BayArena. The team led by coach Klaus Augenthaler had three chances in the first ten minutes with a whipped-in cross from Paul Freier turned onto the post by Dimitar Berbatov as Madrid are pushed back into their own half.
Then the lead on 39 minutes. Jacek Krzynowek shoots from distance from a corner and the ball bounces off the left-hand post and the hand of goalkeeper Casillas into the back of the net.
The half-time lead is doubled on 50 minutes with a wonder goal from Franca and Dimitar Berbatov makes it 3-0 five minutes later. The BayArena goes wild. The Werkself work themselves into a frenzy and dominate the Spaniards at will.
At the end of 90 minutes, Bayer 04 celebrate a sensational start to the Champions League campaign 2004/05 that ends with the Werkself losing out to Liverpool in the Round of 16.
Here are the two teams for the nostalgic:
Bayer 04: Butt – Schneider, Juan, Roque Junior, Placente, Ramelow, Freier (Bierofka 84’), Ponte (Balitsch 80’), Krzynowek, Franca (Babic 69’), Berbatov
Real Madrid: Casillas – Salgado, Pavon, Samuel, Roberto Carlos, Beckham, Helguera, Figo (Celades 58’), Zidane (Morientes 46’), Raul, Ronaldo (Solari 58’)
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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