Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Overview:
Founded in 1904 as the company club of the Bayer chemical company, Bayer Leverkusen has found success in many areas, particularily track & field and basketball. The soccer division was started in 1907, and everything was combined in 1928.

After gaining entry to the Bundesliga in 1979, Bayer has been a consistently good team in the last 10 years. The exception was 95/96, when only a closing minute goal saved them from relegation. However, the next season, they crowned their effort by finishing as runner-up and entering the Champions League as the 2nd German representative. The greatest success is winning the UEFA Cup in 1988 over Espanyol Barcelona. Certainly Leverkusen's success in the 1990s is a testament to the benfits of corporate sponsorship. But it is also a reflection of the ability to Bayer management to scout and develop untried, young foreign players, particularily from Brazil, and turn them into stars.

1998-99 saw Bayer put together a decent season. They were pretty much in 2nd behind Bayern for the entire season, but never really threatened for the title. The next season was different. Bayer looked to have fallen out after a couple of ass kickings by rivals Bayern Muenchen, but a great late season run put them in first place. Going into the final weekend, all they needed was a draw against lowly Unterhaching to take the title. Instead, they slumped to defeat, and when Bayern won their match, Leverkusen had indeed thrown away the title. Bayer would continue to live up to their nicknames, "Vizekusen", "Neverkusen", "Luserkusen" etc., none worse than in 2001-02 when they threw away an almost insurmountable 5 point lead to choke, and then preceded to lose the DFB Cup and Champions League finals! Among others, star player Michael Ballack left. Bayer signed several expensive new players, so there was little doubt that the following year they would be decent, if not perhaps direct title challengers. Instead, they sucked and not until the final day's 1-0 victory at already relegated Nuernberg were they able to save themselves.

Almost Champions:
The team earned a series of top four finishes from 1997 to 2002 that included four second place finishes. The finishes of 2000 and 2002 were heart-breaking for supporters as on both occasions the team had the Bundesliga title within its grasp. In 2000, Bayer Leverkusen needed only a draw against Unterhaching to win the title, but an own goal by Ballack helped send the team to a crushing 2–0 defeat, while Bayern Munich clinched the title with a (3–1) victory over Werder Bremen. Two years later, the club surrendered a five point lead atop the league table by losing two of its last three matches while Borussia Dortmund swept ahead with three consecutive victories in its final matches. The 2002 season has been dubbed the "Treble Horror", as Bayer Leverkusen were also beaten 4–2 in the German Cup final by Schalke 04, and lost the UEFA Champions League final to Real Madrid by 2 goals to 1, which also led to some of the English-language media dubbing them "Neverkusen". Still, the club entered the record books as the first team ever to reach the UEFA Champions League final without winning a national championship before. They even had to qualify first for the participation in that year's UEFA Champions League.

resserved post

resserved post

robin dutt is indian

Ah, Neverkusen Great to see that!

What happened to the great Schurrle this season? He hasn't been as impressive.

Will update this on Saturday

Lord Hades wrote: robin dutt is indian

just got sacked

The Bayer04 board just appointed Sami Hyypiä as team manager and Sascha Lewandowski as coach. (The latter as they need someone with a "Fußballlehrer" (UEFA Pro) license and Hyypiä still has to acquire that - atm he only has a Finnish A-licence).

Source: http://www.bayer04.de/B04-DEU/de/_md_aktuell-dt.aspx?aktuell=aktuell-6947

Robbery wrote:

overveiw :
Founded in 1904 as the company club of the Bayer chemical company, Bayer Leverkusen has found success in many areas, particularily track & field and basketball. The soccer division was started in 1907, and everything was combined in 1928.

After gaining entry to the Bundesliga in 1979, Bayer has been a consistently good team in the last 10 years. The exception was 95/96, when only a closing minute goal saved them from relegation. However, the next season, they crowned their effort by finishing as runner-up and entering the Champions League as the 2nd German representative. The greatest success is winning the UEFA Cup in 1988 over Espanyol Barcelona. Certainly Leverkusen's success in the 1990s is a testament to the benfits of corporate sponsorship. But it is also a reflection of the ability to Bayer management to scout and develop untried, young foreign players, particularily from Brazil, and turn them into stars.

1998-99 saw Bayer put together a decent season. They were pretty much in 2nd behind Bayern for the entire season, but never really threatened for the title. The next season was different. Bayer looked to have fallen out after a couple of ass kickings by rivals Bayern Muenchen, but a great late season run put them in first place. Going into the final weekend, all they needed was a draw against lowly Unterhaching to take the title. Instead, they slumped to defeat, and when Bayern won their match, Leverkusen had indeed thrown away the title. Bayer would continue to live up to their nicknames, "Vizekusen", "Neverkusen", "Luserkusen" etc., none worse than in 2001-02 when they threw away an almost insurmountable 5 point lead to choke, and then preceded to lose the DFB Cup and Champions League finals! Among others, star player Michael Ballack left. Bayer signed several expensive new players, so there was little doubt that the following year they would be decent, if not perhaps direct title challengers. Instead, they sucked and not until the final day's 1-0 victory at already relegated Nuernberg were they able to save themselves.
almost champios:
The team earned a series of top four finishes from 1997 to 2002 that included four second place finishes. The finishes of 2000 and 2002 were heart-breaking for supporters as on both occasions the team had the Bundesliga title within its grasp. In 2000, Bayer Leverkusen needed only a draw against Unterhaching to win the title, but an own goal by Ballack helped send the team to a crushing 2–0 defeat, while Bayern Munich clinched the title with a (3–1) victory over Werder Bremen. Two years later, the club surrendered a five point lead atop the league table by losing two of its last three matches while Borussia Dortmund swept ahead with three consecutive victories in its final matches. The 2002 season has been dubbed the "Treble Horror", as Bayer Leverkusen were also beaten 4–2 in the German Cup final by Schalke 04, and lost the UEFA Champions League final to Real Madrid by 2 goals to 1, which also led to some of the English-language media dubbing them "Neverkusen". Still, the club entered the record books as the first team ever to reach the UEFA Champions League final without winning a national championship before. They even had to qualify first for the participation in that year's UEFA Champions League.

So glad I saw this post by a Bayern supporter.

Ha

justdoit_ wrote:
So glad I saw this post by a Bayern supporter.

Ha

do not deceive :vagi:

Robbery wrote:

justdoit_ wrote:
So glad I saw this post by a Bayern supporter.

Ha

do not deceive :vagi:

:vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi: :vagi:

justdoit_ wrote:

Robbery wrote:

justdoit_ wrote:
So glad I saw this post by a Bayern supporter.

Ha

do not deceive :vagi:

:vagi:

you do know im more of a bundesliga fan than a bayern fan

Eh! Please don't spam around in this thread! I might consider deleting blatant spam posts.

BTW, I'll keep my fingers crossed for Marc-André ter Stegen that he is chosen for the Euro2012 squad. I'd totally love to see Manuel Neuer, Ron-Robert Zieler and Marc-André ter Stegen as the Euro GKs as I always feel like Tim Wiese brings bad luck (with him in goal the German NT has never won so far).

Hyypia.

Bayer Leverkusen were drawn into the following group in the Europe League:

Group K:
Bayer Leverkusen
Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
Rosenborg Trondheim (NOR)
Rapid Wien (AUT)

Fixtures:
Th 20 Sep 2012, 21:05: Bayer Leverkusen vs Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
Th 04 Oct 2012, 19:00: Rosenborg Trondheim (NOR) vs Bayer Leverkusen
Th 25 Oct 2012. 19:00: Rapid Wien (AUT) vs Bayer Leverkusen
Th 08 Nov 2012, 21:05: Bayer Leverkusen vs Rapid Wien (AUT)
Th 22 Nov 2012, 19:00: Metalist Kharkiv (URK) vs Bayer Leverkusen
Th 06 Dec 2012, 21:05: Bayer Leverkusen vs Rosenborg Trondheim (NOR)

rwo power wrote:Bayer Leverkusen were drawn into the following group in the Europe League:

Group K:
Bayer Leverkusen
Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
Rosenborg Trondheim (NOR)
Rapid Wien (AUT)

Fixtures:
Th 20 Sep 2012, 21:05: Bayer Leverkusen vs Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
Th 04 Oct 2012, 19:00: Rosenborg Trondheim (NOR) vs Bayer Leverkusen
Th 25 Oct 2012. 19:00: Rapid Wien (AUT) vs Bayer Leverkusen
Th 08 Nov 2012, 21:05: Bayer Leverkusen vs Rapid Wien (AUT)
Th 22 Nov 2012, 19:00: Metalist Kharkiv (URK) vs Bayer Leverkusen
Th 06 Dec 2012, 21:05: Bayer Leverkusen vs Rosenborg Trondheim (NOR)

Should be an easy-sailing for them. But it's Leverkusen (Almighty knows how many times they have disgusted me).

How good is Kohr anyone ?

Well, he got the Fritz-Walter-Medal in Bronze and is thus considered the 3rd best German U18 player.

I'm sorry, I can't say anything else about him as I haven't really seen him so far. (He only plays for Bayer II, and even though they are playing in the Regionalliga West, they didn't meet RWO there yet).

we are not interested in him btw

He scored a hattrick for Germany Under 19s apparently and got the MOTM

Tomorrow, the first U21 Euro Qualification play-off match Germany vs Switzerland will be broadcast live on TV (kick-off 18:00 GMT+2), and I will certainly watch that as it will feature Roman Bürki (another interesting Swiss goalie) and one of Oliver Baumann, Bernd Leno or Kevin Trapp in the German goal (I hope Rainer Adrion will choose Bernd Leno).

rwo and those well-versed in German League, would you PLEASE make this thread alive! It would be so nice if they can have a place in this forum.

Well, the problem there is that I won't really count even if posting here (as mod I sort of belong to the inventory), and frankly, I'm not so much interested in Bayer to make this a 'one women show'. I thought la bestia negra was interested to look after Bayer a bit.

They have notched three wins on a trott. Next match against Schalke, who again stuttering at the start, would be key in battle for CL places (though it's very early in the season). Can anyone say how they played! Which player impressed who didn't. Probable problem areas and player who have surprised.

Line-up for the CL 2014/15 qualification play-off (1st leg):

FC Copenhagen: S.Andersen - Högli, Nilsson, Jörgensen, Bengtsson - Claudemir, Amartey - Amankwaa, Delaney (c) - Cornelius, Kadrii
Bench: Wiland (GK), Antonsson, de Ridder, Felfel, Mussis, Olsen, Pourie

Bayer Leverkusen: Leno - Donati, Spahic, Toprak, Boenisch - Castro, Rolfes (c) - Bellarabi, Calhanoglu, Son - Kießling
Bench: Kresic (GK), Jedvaj, Wendell, Öztunali, Reinartz, Brandt, Drmic