In March 1997, there was a four-way race for the title. Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich were top on 46 points, our team and VfB Stuttgart in third and fourth on 44. Matchday 25 brings fifth-placed Schalke 04 to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
A hard-fought encounter ends with the Werkself winning 2-0 with goals from Ulf Kirsten and Erich Meijer and they move up into second place two points behind league leaders Bayern Munich. The second goal from Erich Meijer was voted Goal of the Month for March 1997 by viewers of the ARD Sportschau. Here is the line-up:
Bayer 04: Dirk Heinen – Christian Wörns, Jens Nowotny, Robert Kovac, Hans-Peter Lehnhoff (Claudio Reyna 89’), Carsten Ramelow, Ze Elias (Rene Rydlewicz 46’), Paulo Sergio, Markus Happe, Ulf Kirsten (Andreas Neuendorf 85’), Erik Meijer
In March 2002, the leaders Bayer 04 travel to Kaiserslautern to play the Red Devils at their Betzenberg ground. Ulf Kirsten opened the scoring after 11 seconds and that remains the fastest goal in the history the Bundesliga. When Olli Neuville doubled the lead 15 minutes later, it looks like the Werkself have comfortably mastered a tough away game in the Pfalz.
However, the hosts equalise on 55 minutes and the victory looks to be in danger. But Michael Ballack (from the penalty spot) and substitute Dimitar Berbatov get the Werkself back on track. With five games to play, the Bayer team are in top spot four points ahead of Borussia Dortmund following the 4-2 win. Here is the line-up from that game:
Bayer 04: Jörg Butt – Zoltan Sebescen, Lucio, Jens Nowotny, Diego Placente, Carsten Ramelow, Bernd Schneider, Michael Ballack, Oliver Neuville (Dimitar Berbatov 81’), Ulf Kirsten (Boris Zivkovic 54’), Thomas Brdaric (Thomas Kleine 89’)
Here are the TV highlights.
Tranquillo Barnetta was born in St. Gallen in Switzerland on 22 May 1985. Quillo, as he was called in the football world, has Italian roots. His great-grandfather emigrated from Italy to the east of Switzerland. Quillo was interested in football early on and he played for the St. Gallen club FC Rotmonten from the age of six. He joined his favourite club FC St. Gallen at the age of 11. There he became a youth international. He won the European Championships with his teammates in the Switzerland U17 team in 2002. The youngsters from Switzerland beat France 4-2 on penalties in the final to become U17 European champions.
Show moreSince the establishment of the Bundesliga on 28 July 1962 for the 1963/64 season, there have been five Regional Leagues: North, Berlin, West, South-west and South. The champions of those five leagues qualified directly for promotion play-offs that were played in two groups of four teams. That included the two second-placed teams in the West and South-west Regional Leagues. The two runners-up from the North and the South played a qualifier for the eighth place in the promotion games.
Show moreIn this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of May. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
Show moreThere were high summer temperatures in Leverkusen on 25 May 1985. Matchday 32 brings FC Köln to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium with only 13,000 spectators at the derby. That is primarily due to the Werkself with Bayer 04 rarely impressing in that season and they are eleventh in the table before the game just three points ahead of sixteenth, the play-off spot. But with the two points for a win rule back then – two points were awarded for a win – and with the significantly better goal difference, the Werkself need every point to get out of trouble.
Show moreIt was all or nothing on the final matchday in the Verbandsliga in the 1974/75 season. Only now would it be decided who were champions and thereby participate in the promotion games to the Bundesliga 2 North. The earlier rivals Viktoria Köln, SC Jülich 10 and Bonner SC have fallen by the wayside.
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