1.04.2023Bayer 04

Matches of the month: Two 5-0 home wins

The Bayer team entertain Hamburg SV at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on matchday 31 in the 1997/98 league campaign. It is 18 April and the situation in the table is very simple for the Werkself team coached by Christoph Daum: Higher than third place is no longer possible as the 1998 champions to be FC Kaiserslautern and Bayern Munich are too far ahead. Our team needs seven points from the final four games to secure a place in the UEFA Cup and the first three should come in the match against the North German side lying twelfth in the Bundesliga.

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The Werkself have a wake-up call on seven minutes when Hamburg hit the bar. Bayer 04 are ahead at half-time thanks to goals from Carsten Ramelow and Ulf Kirsten. HSV finally fall apart when Erik Meijer makes it 3-0. The Daum team create chance after chance. The last two goals scored by Stefan Beinlich and an own goal from former Bayer player Ingo Hertzsch are tangible proof of the superiority of the Werkself. At the end of the day, HSV can be happy to avoid an even heavier defeat.

2012/13: five goals against Hoffenheim

Bayer 04 are on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League in 2012/13. The Werkself are third in the table seven points ahead of Schalke 04 with five games to play. The season target for the Leverkusen coaching duo of Sascha Lewandowski and Sami Hyypiä appears to be in reach and next-to-bottom TSG Hoffenheim should not prove to be a problem. It is one-way traffic from the kick-off. The early opener from Stefan Kießling could have been doubled by Simon Rolfes from the penalty spot on 24 minutes but the Hoffenheim goalkeeper Casteels makes the save. The TSG player Polanski is shown the red card for the foul leading to the penalty.

When André Schürrle doubles the lead on 31 minutes the second half becomes a formality for the Werkself against the ten men of Hoffenheim. Stefan Kießling and André Schürrle again plus holding midfielder Stefan Reinartz score to make it 5-0 in the end. The season ends with a third-place finish and qualification for the Champions League.

Here are TV highlights of the victory against TSG Hoffenheim.

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