It's matchday 29 on Friday, 25 April 1997 and the run-in at the end of the season has started. Bayer 04 are three points behind league leaders Bayern Munich in second place and are set to entertain Werder Bremen who have had a mixed season. The Werkself take charge of proceedings straightaway and push Bremen back in their own half. After Ulf Kirsten opened the scoring on 23 minutes, his opponent Jens Lellek committed a bad foul on our centre forward eight minutes later and the referee Dr Markus Merk showed him the red card.
Bremen then formed a defensive wall in front of their box and chances were carelessly missed. The result appeared to be sealed after the second strike from our record goalscorer with a penalty but a goal from Werder Bremen caused unnecessary concern. The match ended in a deserved win for Bayer 04 who kept Bayern under pressure.
Bayer 04 are top of the table with a five-point lead and three games to play. With two home games against Werder Bremen and Hertha Berlin and an away fixture against relegation threatened FC Nürnberg in between, there is great confidence under the Bayer Cross that the Bundesliga 'Schale' can finally be brought to Leverkusen.
However, Werder Bremen needed every point in the race for a UEFA Cup place and they disrupted the Bayer team's flow with aggressive pressing from the start. The first setback on five minutes: Krisztian Lisztes opened the scoring for Werder with a hopeful long-range effort. Bayer 04 were able to apply more pressure after the half-hour mark and Zé Roberto netted the equaliser on 32 minutes. There was great celebration in the stands when referee Alfons Berg awarded a questionable penalty seven minutes later. But the Bayer 04 fans soon fell silent. The otherwise so reliable penalty taker Jörg Butt had his spot kick saved by the Bremen keeper Frank Rost. But nobody was unduly worried by the 1-1 scoreline at half-time.
But there was disquiet after an hour when Bremen went ahead again, particularly as the Werkself were pressing but unable to create any chances. At the end of the day, our team dropped three important points in the title race but still had two games to play to reach the finishing line with a two-point cushion.
Here are the TV highlights of the game against Werder Bremen
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.
Show moreHorst 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.
Show moreHolger 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.
Show moreMichael 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.
Show moreIn 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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