Matches of the month: Two emphatic victories
Convincing wins against the champions of Germany in 1992+ the league leaders five years later – the matches of the month in August.
It's a Tuesday night on 25 August 1992: The champions of Germany VfB Stuttgart visit the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on the third matchday of the season. After two 1-1 draws on the first two matchdays at home against newly promoted FC Saarbrücken and away to Werder Bremen (the goalscorer in both games: Andreas Thom) there was a change of fortune in front of a crowd of 15,000. And what a change it was.
The scoreline is 2-0 after five minutes and the brace was netted by: Andreas Thom. In the second half, he makes it 3-0 at the end of a counter-attack and up to this day he holds the record for scoring the first five goals in a season. Joel Pohjanpalo came close to Andi Thom's record with four goals in the first two matchdays in the 2016/17 season. The substitute Jupp Nehl scores the fourth goal to seal a successful start to the season.
The starting eleven: Vollborn – Wörns, Foda, Kree, Fischer, Scholz, Lupescu (Radschuweit 58’), Hapal (Nehl 64’), von Ahlen, Kirsten, Thom
Daum team crushes league leaders
There was a mixed start to the season five years later: A defeat at Schalke and the hard-fought home win against Bochum was followed by another away defeat in Stuttgart. 13 August brings the first Champions League qualifier against Dynamo Tbilisi that ends in a brilliant 6-1 win for Bayer 04. The next Bundesliga match is played on 23 August.
The current league leaders Karlsruher SC are the visitors and they take the lead on four minutes from a freekick by World Cup winner Thomas Häßler. And then? Bayer 04 reacts as so often under coach Christoph Daum: with furious attacks and incredible energy. The Werkself lead to-one at half-time thanks to goals from Erik Meijer and Niko Kovac and Bayer 04 are unstoppable in the second 45. Ulf Kirsten with two goals, Hans-Peter Lehnhoff and Paulo Rink score to make it 6-1 and the league leaders travel back to Baden after a heavy defeat.
The Bayer 04 line-up: Heinen – Wörns, Je. Nowotny, Happe, Lehnhoff (Emerson 74’), N. Kovac (R. Kovac 88’), Ramelow, Beinlich, Lottner, Meijer, Kirsten (Rink 60’)
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