The Werkself line-up is unchanged from the defeat in Dortmund. The two defences are dominant for long stretches of the game with safety first the byword from the kick-off. Christian Wörns nets the opener on 36 minutes, which forces MSV Duisburg to be more adventurous in the second half. Bayer 04 are unable to exploit the space on offer and the match ends in a deserved 1-0 win and third place in the table behind FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund.
Everything’s set up. Sunday 24 February 2002, 17.30 CET, the floodlights are on for the top of the table clash on matchday 24 between second-placed Bayer 04 and league leaders Borussia Dortmund. The BayArena is sold out with a capacity crowd of 22,500 and all of Leverkusen wants to go top. After an impressive start by the visitors and a goal from the Brazilian player Ewerthon unjustly ruled out, the team under coach Klaus Toppmöller wake up. The Werkself miss chance after chance but go 1-0 up on 32 minutes with a goal from Michael Ballack.
The Yellow and Blacks are unable to withstand the Bayer 04 attacks in the second half. With goals from Carsten Ramelow, Oliver Neuville and Dimitar Berbatov, Bayer 04 deservedly seal a 4-0 win and go top of the table. HERE is the footage.
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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