Matches of the month: Twice at home to Werder
Centre stage this month: two home games against Werder Bremen – one at the end of the 1996/97 season, one in the historic campaign of 2001/02…
1996/97: narrow win
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.
2001/02: narrow defeat
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
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