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…
Display videos
Yes, I'd like to see videos dispalyed.
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
Related News
Bayer 04 - 01.12.2024
Birthday boy of the month 4: Michal Kadlec turns 40
Michal ‘Katsche’ Kadlec was born in the Czech town of Vyskov on 13 December 1984. At the age of six, he moved to the Pfalz region in Germany with his parents because his father Miroslav accepted an offer from FC Kaiserslautern where he played as a sweeper for the Red Devils for eight years. Katsche learned German in the kindergarten at Kaiserslautern. And he played football at an early age: first as a teenager at SV Alsenborn and then for FC Kaiserslautern.
Show more
Bayer 04 - 01.12.2024
Birthday boy of the month 1: Helmut Röhrig turns 80
Helmut Röhrig was born in Leverkusen on 14.12.19 44. He learned to play football at Bayer 04 and became a Middle Rhine champion with the U19s in 1963 finishing ahead of FC Köln. He played in the second team at the Werkself in his first year in senior football.
Show more
Bayer 04 - 01.12.2024
Birthday boy of the month 2: Bernd Schuster turns 65
Bernd Schuster was born in Augsburg on 22.12.19 59. His first club as a teenager was local side SV Hammerschmiede. From that time there was an anecdote that a former groundsman told us when we had a Pokal game in Augsburg in 1993. Bernd was always the first person on the training ground after school. With a running track around the pitch and goals without nets, the young Bernd practised free kicks and corners in the knowledge that he had to collect the ball himself. In that way he not only practised his technique but also worked on his stamina as a teenager.
Show more
Bayer 04 - 01.12.2024
Birthday Boy of the Month 3: Wolfgang Rolff turns 65
Wolfgang ‘Wolle’ Rolff was born on 26.12.1959 in Lamstedt, a community in the Lower Saxony administrative district of Cuxhaven. He started his football career at TSV Lamstedt. He moved on to OSC Bremerhaven with the U17s as he trained to be a retail salesman. He started in senior football at the Nordsee Stadium in Bremerhaven.
Show more
Bayer 04 - 01.12.2024
From the archives: 55 years ago – Relief in December 1969
The 1969/70 season begins with four defeats for Bayer 04. That puts the team coached by Theo Kirchberg bottom of the table. The Werkself only lift themselves out of the relegation zone on Matchday 10 with a 4-2 away win in Marl-Hüls. The position in the table improves over the course of the season.
Show more