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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’)
Hans Sarpei was born on 28 June 1976 in Tema, Ghana, and came to Germany with his parents at the age of three, where he grew up in Cologne. Even before he was born, his mother and father worked in Hamburg in the import-export sector. There they met an older man who introduced them to German culture and supported them. Out of gratitude, Hans was later given his first name, although this man died before he was born. Hans comes from a sporting family; his older brother Edward and his nephews Hans Nunoo Sarpei and Kingsley Sarpei were or are also professional footballers.
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On 3 June 1953, Hans-Josef (‘Sepp’) Kretschmann became the fifth coach in the history of Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Born in Allenstein, East Prussia, on 21 March 1902, the football coach first studied to become a teacher before later switching to football. He took over the Werkself from Franz Strehle, under whom the team twice managed to stay in the 1st Oberliga West. However, Strehle did not extend his contract in Leverkusen after these two very successful years.
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After promotion to Bundesliga North 2 in the summer of 1975, Bayer 04 are fighting relegation just eight months later. The club expects full commitment from everyone in this precarious situation. Promotion coach Manfred Rummel is to give up his main job as a teacher at the Mülheim special school and become a full-time coach at Bayer 04. The coach, who is very popular with the team, does not see himself in a position to fulfil the club's request. Despite a 2-0 home win against SpVgg Erkenschwick, Manfred Rummel is put on gardening leave by "mutual agreement".
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Bayer 04, already been promoted to the 1st Oberliga West, played friendly after friendly in the second half of May 1951. And that continued throughout the following month.
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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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