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Simon Rolfes (l) and Fernando Carro from Bayer Leverkusen.
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
In 2002, Bayer Leverkusen enchanted football Germany in a similar way to today.
But instead of a title, there was trauma at the end of the season.
That will change.
Leverkusen - Klaus Toppmöller immediately knew what the problem was.
“We should have been eliminated earlier,” said the Bayer Leverkusen coach minutes after missing out on the 2002 championship title: “Then we would have had more strength at the end and would have become champions.” By the end of a furious season, Leverkusen had been three titles short played along.
After a wasted five-point lead with three match days to go in the league and lost finals in the DFB Cup and the Champions League, in the end all that was left was the mock title “Vizekusen”.
The sobering end to the season left its mark.
Zé Roberto and Michael Ballack went to FC Bayern, Toppmöller was given a leave of absence after falling into the relegation zone in February 2003.
And above all: 22 years later, Leverkusen is still waiting for its first championship title.
The Werkself have not won a title since 1993.
The “Vizekusen” ridicule follows the Leverkusen team, even though they have only been runner-up once since then.
Now the great longing of the recently increasing number of Bayer fans for a trophy finally seems to be fulfilled.
Coach Xabi Alonso's team has not lost any of their 36 competitive games this season and is ten points ahead of Bayern nine games before the end of the season.
In addition, Leverkusen is in the cup semi-finals with two second and one third division teams and is also in the Europa League, where the quarter-finals should be made clear after the 2-2 draw in the first leg on Thursday (9 p.m. / RTL) against Karabakh Agdam the favorite.
Some people are already secretly dreaming of a completely new label: Triplekusen instead of Vizekusen.
But there is obviously a great danger - and it is the same as in 2002: the dance at three weddings.
“But there is a big difference,” objects sports director Simon Rolfes: “If I remember correctly, they always played with the same team back then.
That is not the case with us today.
We have a broad squad and the quality to be able to distribute the load.” Figures prove this: in 2002, eleven players made at least 50 appearances.
This time a maximum of six could reach that number.
And only if Bayer gets to the maximum number of 17 games and they always play.
The idea of, for example, leaving the Europa League earlier in order to secure at least one title had never occurred to anyone, Rolfes assured: “Europe is always something special.
So I would like to do as much and as often as possible.” Even for Alonso, who won 18 titles as a player, there is no weighing up the options.
“Our focus is on everyone.
We want to get as far as possible in all competitions,” he said on Wednesday: “Tomorrow we will give it full throttle.
On Sunday in the league in Freiburg we are going full throttle.
And then again in the cup.
We don’t stop.” In the Europa League “it was nice to be in the semi-finals last year.
But this year we want a little more.”
The players don't feel fazed by the curse of 2002 either, even though they're being told about it again and again these days.
“I was eight years old at the time, I don’t remember much about it,” said Robert Andrich.
His colleague Florian Wirtz wasn't even born back then.
“Without knowing what the quality of the team was back then, I don’t think you can compare it,” said national player Andrich: “We have a very, very good team across the board that is clear-headed.
We don't feel safe anywhere or celebrate anything.
We are well prepared for all tasks.
That’s why we’re confident that things won’t go the way they did in 2002.”
The builders of 2002 also believe that. “If the football god is a just God, then this year it’s Leverkusen’s turn,” said the then manager Reiner Calmund to the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”: “It can’t be any other way.” Also, because his successors are doing such good work.
Alonso is “a star menu,” said Calmund, Rolfes is “internationally among the crème de la crème” and club boss Fernando Carro is a good businessman and at the same time “totally football crazy” in a positive sense.
And Toppmöller was also sure in the “Sportbuzzer” interview: “Now it’s time to play for the title!” dpa