Walkovers, relocation and firsts

From Oberliga days (1955/56)
The Werkself earned a victory in the first competitive match against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 25 March 1956 – back then in the Oberliga West. The scoreline on that Sunday afternoon was 5-1. That was the first of 75 meetings in competitive fixtures.

Clear defeats (1971/72)
In the first round of the DFB Cup there were two games in the two-leg tie. The first clash at home on Bismarckstraße ended in 3-0 defeat, the return match finished in a 4-2 reverse for the Werkself.

Unspectacular first (1979/80)
Exactly 66 kilometres separated Gladbach’s Bökelberg ground and Leverkusen’s Ulrich Haberland Stadium, the venue for the first Bundesliga fixture between Bayer 04 and Borussia. On matchday 17 in the 1979/80 season, Klaus Clajus refereed the derby played at the traditional time on a Saturday. In front of 15,000 fans, Peter Hermann and Kurt Eigl were in the Werkself line-up and they were faced by famous players like Lothar Matthäus and Ewald Lienen. Jupp Heynckes was the Borussia coach and 30 years later he took charge at Bayer 04. The result of the first Bundesliga meeting? A meagre 0:0…

First win in the top flight (1982/83)
It took eight matches or four years for the Werkself to be able to celebrate the first victory over Borussia in the Bundesliga. After two draws and five defeats, the team under head coach Dettmar Cramer won 3-2 at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium at the beginning of March 1983. The Blacks and Reds turned round a 2-1 deficit in the last ten minutes with Thomas Hörster scoring the winner on 89 minutes. The match-winner went on to work under the Bayer Cross as youth, reserve and first team interim coach. He has been a scout since 2007.

Cup exit thanks to penalty saves (1991/92)
The Rhineland rivals met at the start of the 1990s in a DFB Cup semi-final tie. The match went into extra time with the score at 1-1 after 90 minutes. Hans-Jörg Criens scored first for Borussia (95’) before Andreas Thom netted on 119 minutes to take it to a penalty shoot-out that nobody could quickly forget. The Gladbach keeper Uwe Kamps saved four spot-kicks to take the Foals through to the final – the final score 4-2 a.e.t. The final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin saw Borussia lose on penalties to Hannover 96…

Walkover away (1998/99)
What a performance by the Werkself and what illustrious goalscorers! On matchday ten in 1998/99 much went right for the Leverkusen team under coach Christoph Daum. Ulf Kirsten bagged a brace to put the Black and Reds in front. Zé Roberto and Kirsten again, with a goal scored by Toni Polster for Gladbach, produced a clear 4-1 lead at half-time. After the restart, Jens Nowotny, Thomas Reichenberger twice and Niko Kovac. As Chiquinho scored for the Foals, the Werkself ended up with an 8-2 win!

Fight back thanks to ‘Berbo’ (2004/05)
The Werkself struggled at the start of the game: Oliver Neuville gave the Foals the lead on two minutes. But the Werkself then turned it on. Dimitar Berbatov led the way with a hat-trick to turn the home game round for Bayer 04. Andrej Voronin and Franca also scored to give the team under head coach Klaus Augenthaler a 5-1 win.

Move down the Rhine (2008/09)
On matchday 33 in the 2008/09 season, the two teams met at an unusual venue: The match was played in Düsseldorf due to the rebuilding of the BayArena – and Bayer 04 clocked up a runaway 5-0 win. The goals were scored by Stefan Kießling, Patrick Helmes, Gonzalo Castro, Michal Kadlec and a Dante own goal. Werkself legend Bernd Schneider, today one of six honorary captains, played his last game for Bayer 04 in the North Rhine-Westphalia state capital. ‘Schnix’ went off to a standing ovation when he was replaced by Toni Kroos on 73 minutes.

Herrlich and Zakaria (2017/18)
All Borussia and Werkself fans should remember this moment: 75 minutes into the DFB Cup Round of 16 tie just before Christmas, Gladbach’s holding midfielder Denis Zakaria wanted to retrieve the ball for a throw-in. The then Bayer 04 head coach Heiko Herrlich was standing in his way. After a brief, slight contact, Herrlich fell to the ground. The coach said after the 1-0 win – Leon Bailey scored – for his team: “I’m embarrassed by my action. The ball came to me, I let it through my legs to prevent Gladbach taking a quick throw-in. I shouldn’t have done that; it was daft. Then Zakaria brushed against me and I slipped. I should have stayed on my feet at the age of 46.” The Gladbach players saw the funny side: “That’s football and it happened due to emotion. And the coaches do it!”

Convincing cup win (2018/19)
The Black and Reds let loose at Borussia Park on a Wednesday night at the end of October 2018. Julian Brandt and Tin Jedvaj scored in the first half, Karim Bellarabi with a brace and Kevin Volland made it 5-0 in the second half. This victory in the second round put Bayer 04 through to the DFB Cup Round of 16. That was the end of the road in the cup with a surprise 2-1 defeat against second division FC Heidenheim.

Last meeting (2019/20)
The Werkself and the Foals last faced each other at the start of November last year. Oscar Wendt gave Borussia an early lead (18’), Kevin Volland equalised seven minutes later (25’). Gladbach’s Marcus Thuram scored the winner for the visitors before half-time making 2-1 on 42 minutes. A positive for the Black and Reds: This clash was followed by a six-game unbeaten run. The question now is: When will Bayer 04 and Borussia Mönchengladbach meet again?