#RoadtoGlasgow – Toppmöller: ‘The best football match I've ever seen'

Dino, how well can you remember the Bayer 04 season of 20 years ago?

Toppmöller: It's still very much present. As a fan, I rooted for them and suffered, and really experienced it. I was always there in that season and saw almost all the games and was at nearly every home game at the stadium. At that time I was playing for VfL Bochum and I shared a flat with my father in Leverkusen. That was really practical for me in terms of saving rent. (He laughs)

Saturday 9 April is the anniversary of the quarter-final second leg between Bayer 04 and Liverpool. Do you have special memories of that 4-2 win?  

Toppmöller: The match against Liverpool is the best football match I've ever seen up to today. The whole drama was indescribable for neutral spectators and at that moment my emotional connection to the club came in. It was a rollercoaster of feelings. In addition, I remember the electrifying atmosphere at the Arena and total strangers were hugging each other. It was something special.

When did you feel that the Werkself could go a long way in the Champions League?

Toppmöller: The home game against the great Barcelona was a marker. With the 2-1 win everybody noticed how good Bayer 04 were. The team really got into a rhythm and there an incredible number of highlights along the way. It was party time at the BayArena.

In that season, you played for VfL Bochum in the second round of the DFB Cup against Bayer 04 and your father. What can you still remember of the 3-2 defeat?

Toppmöller: We played a great game and went 1-0 up. I came on in the second half and could have scored the winner at 2-2 when I had a shot from seven or eight yards out. Hansjörg Butt saved it and Dimitar Berbatov scored a goal at the end in the final minute – and Bayer 04 went through to the final. My father later said: 'Perhaps we would have been better losing that game then we would have had a bit more energy at the end of the season.'

What was your father like at that time, particularly on matchdays?

Toppmöller: My father was always authentic and not particularly agitated or the like on matchdays. He was always just full of anticipation. And also a fan of his team.

But he wasn't that relaxed with the fog chaos in Turin… 

Toppmöller: I still remember how he called me up from Turin and raged: 'Dino, they've taken the mickey out of us. We've been on the bus to the hotel for two hours in the night.' I watched the game the next day in the dressing room after morning training at Bochum. My father was really wound up about the disparaging words of the Juve coach Marcelo Lippi. He said to me: 'We'll blow them away in the second leg, we’ll boot them out of the Arena. 100%. And then I'll say: I couldn't have imagined it would be so easy against Juventus.' And that's what happened. (He laughs)

Which Bayer 04 player impressed you most?

Toppmöller: The left flank with Ze Roberto and Placente was brilliant. (He laughs) What they did with them was partly embarrassing for opponents. There was at least one nutmeg every game, on top of that 'Balle' as the leader in midfield, people like Calle Ramelow who did the dirty work. But it was simply a great group with outstanding players.

Whose journey went on and on…

Toppmöller: You noticed match by match that you could compete and actually beat anybody. After the match at Anfield in Liverpool there was still the feeling you could do it in spite of the defeat. And when you actually beat Liverpool, then came Manchester United at that time a different and even more powerful challenge. But after the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford you knew as a team: You really can beat anybody in this competition in this season.

Which wasn't necessary in the semi-final second leg thanks to the away goals rule.

Toppmöller: I've completely memorised that game. It was 30 April and there were lots of people from our family there on that night as it was a bank holiday the day after. We really suffered in the stands and got behind them too. I can still see in my minds eye how Diego Placente cleared the shot from Forlan off the line in the 90th minute. Incredible. It was a crazy journey, a great time. I was a big fan of that team.

Were you at the final in Glasgow too?

Toppmöller: Of course, in the away end. But it was straight home after the match at Hampden Park. It was a big disappointment as it was the last possible title and again you finish second although you were the better team. Everything was really over at that point. There was just emptiness.

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