DFB Cup review: Werkself semi-finals

Just one step away from Berlin. A stone’s throw from the dream venue in German club football – the final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. The Werkself are in the DFB Cup semi-finals for the ninth time on Tuesday (kick-off: 20.45 CET). The record to date: three to five – so there is room for improvement. Ahead of the clash with Regional League side FC Saarbrücken at the Hermann Neuberger Stadium in Völklingen, we take this opportunity to look back at the eight previous appearances in the last four of the domestic cup competition.

1988/89

Bayer 04 vs Werder Bremen 1-2 (0-1) on 9.5.1989

Just over a year after Bayer 04 beat Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup semi-final before going on to win the trophy, Bremen took revenge in the DFB Cup at the Haberland Stadium. Rune Bratseth (21') gave the visitors the lead, Andrzej Buncol levelled nine minutes before half-time in front of a crowd of 20,000, but Dieter Eilts put Werder through to the final with his first competitive goal for Bremen with three minutes to play leaving the hosts disappointed.

1991/92

Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Bayer 04 4-2 on penalties. (2-2/1-1) on 7.4.92

This match ensured that the Gladbach goalkeeper, Uwe Kamps, became a legend with VfL fans. In the penalty shootout at the Bökelberg stadium, the keeper saved all four Leverkusen attempts from Jorginho, Heiko Herrlich, Ioan Lupescu and Martin Kree. Rüdiger Vollborn keeping out the spot kick from Horst Steffen was a mere consolation. Before that, Ulf Kirsten (51') and Thomas Kastenmeier (60') scored in normal time with Hans-Jörg Criens (95') and Andreas Thom (119') netting in extra time.

1992/93

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Bayer 04 0-3 (0-1) on 30.3.93

This clash was a source of endless discussion. A clinical Werkself side gave the then Bundesliga league leaders no chance at the Waldstadion and went through to the club’s first DFB Cup final with two goals from Andreas Thom (6'/75') with Ulf Kirsten scoring the second (72'). Frankfurt coach Dragoslav Stepanovic resigned after the tie and a few weeks later he went on to win the trophy with Bayer 04 as the successor to Reinhard Saftig with a 1-0 victory against the Hertha Berlin second team.

1995/96

FC Kaiserslautern vs Bayer 04 1-0 (1-0) on 27.2.96

Barely three months before Bayer 04 sent Kaiserslautern down to the second division with a late equaliser from Markus Münch in a 1-1 draw on 18 May 1996, the Red Devils came out on top in the cup competition. Christian Wörns deflected a shot from Miroslav Kadlec past Dirk Heinen into the Werkself net for the only goal of the game (34'). In a frenetic clash at the Betzenberg, Paulo Sergio was shown an early red card (13').

2001/02

Bayer 04 vs FC Köln 3-1 a.e.t.. (1-1/0-0) on 5.3.02

Bayer 04 progressed to the final in Berlin for a second time in 1993 after a hard-fought derby victory. The Werkself took the lead through an own goal from Marc Zellweger (60') but Rigobert Song headed an equaliser in the final minute after FC Köln were reduced to ten men after the dismissal of Georgi Donkov (76'). In extra time, Boris Zivkovic (100') and Bernd Schneider (114') score to settle the result and put the Black and Reds in party mood. The team under coach Klaus Toppmöller went on to lose 4-2 in the final again Schalke.

2002/03

Bayern Munich vs Bayer 04 3-1 (1-0) on 5.3.03

Another, hoped-for trip to Berlin came to nothing. Bayer 04 only had brief hopes of springing a surprise against Bayern under the tent roof of the Olympic Stadium. Michael Ballack, the outstanding player for the Werkself in the previous season, gave Bayern the lead with a header (30'). Franca set up Carsten Ramelow to equalise shortly after half-time when he coolly slipped the ball past Oliver Kahn (52') only for a brace from Giovane Elber (57'/58') to destroy all hopes for Leverkusen.

2008/09

Bayer 04 vs FSV Mainz 05 4-1 a.e.t. (1-1/0-0) on 21.4.09

Little went right for Bayer 04 in the Bundesliga at the temporary ground in Düsseldorf but the team and fans did enjoy football fests in the DFB Cup. After a thrilling 4-2 victory over Bayern in the quarter-finals, Mainz provided stiff opposition in the semi-final and they cancelled out the opening goal from Angelos Charisteas (82') with a strike from Aristide Bance (88'). However, Arturo Vidal (92'), Simon Rolfes (104') and Michal Kadlec (117') sealed the win. Bayer 04 lost 1-0 to Werder Bremen in the final.

2017/18

Bayer 04 vs Bayern Munich 2-6 (1-2) on 17.4.18

Bayer 04 were caught cold at the BayArena by an extremely effective Bayern side. Robert Lewandowski deflected a Martinez shot into the net to open the scoring (3') and quickly doubled his tally to make it 2-0 (9'). Lars Bender pulled a goal back after 50 minutes with a header from a Julian Brandt free kick. Bayern took the game away from the Werkself after the restart: Thomas Miller (52'), Thiago (60') and Müller again (62') made it 5-1 and an excellent strike from a free kick taken by Leon Bailey (72') was answered by the final and third goal for Thomas Müller.