M
any people enjoy harking back
to a golden period in their lives;
a time when the birds seemed
to sing a little sweeter. But few
would be as precise as Klaus
Toppmoller. For the 70-year-
old, April 27, 2002 would be
the moment that his DeLorean landed.
“We were so close to achieving something
that nobody thought was possible,” Bayer
Leverkusen’s former manager tells FFT, two
decades on. “We could almost touch it.”
With just five games to go of an incredible
season, Toppmoller awoke with his team two
points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and
facing the prospect of competing in not one
but two major cup finals. A club that had
previously won only one UEFA Cup and one
DFB-Pokal in its entire history had a dizzying
treble in sight.
There had been a wobble on the previous
weekend, though, when Die Werkself had let
chasers Dortmund reduce the gap from five
points to two. Leverkusen fans could have
been forgiven for feeling a pang of deja vu
at that point – after all, they’d almost been
crowned German champions just two years
earlier, only to blow it with a final-day loss to
middling Unterhaching. With it, ‘Neverkusen’
were officially born. Even a draw would have
been enough that day, but an own goal from
talismanic midfielder Michael Ballack proved
disastrous. Then, after surrendering their titlein humiliating fashion, they sacked manager
Christoph Daum months later amid claims of
cocaine-fuelled orgies with prostitutes. His
successor, Berti Vogts, lasted seven months.
“I never spoke about the earlier experience
with my players,” Toppmoller, who joined in
the summer of 2001, explains. “I didn’t care
what had happened before my time – you
have to move on in football.”
And under him, Leverkusen sure did: in the
Bundesliga, a Christmas wobble of five losses
in seven sandwiched brilliant runs which shot
them five points clear with three to play. Even
after that Werder defeat with two to go, they
had no time to dwell – not with a Champions
League semi-final against Manchester UnitedWords Ed McCambridge
When Zidane scorched home his stunner in 2002, he didn’t just extinguish
Bayer Leverkusen’s European hopes – that goal also completed a treble of
major trophy misery, after the most agonising collapse in football history...to contest. “Sir Alex Ferguson was an idol
to every coach back then,” says Toppmoller.
“They had a magnificent team, with world-
class players in every position.”
Despite their domestic dip, his team battled
to a fine 2-2 draw at Old Trafford. Six days
later, it got even better. “Roy Keane scored in
the first half and they battered us all game,”
smiles Toppmoller, “but we got one back and
held on.” Leverkusen’s away goals triumph
stunned Fergie, but proved that Toppmoller’s
side were serious contenders in Europe – they
had started out in qualifying, then fought
through two group stages and 18 matches
in total to reach the final against Real Madrid.
Afterwards, their beaming coach declared it
was “a time for cigarettes and drinking”. But
little did the chain-smoking supremo know
that their party was already wrapping up.
Three days before their second leg bliss,
Leverkusen’s Bundesliga charge had been
killed by defeat to lowly Nürnberg on the
penultimate matchday of the season. They
defeated Hertha Berlin in their last fixture,
but it was already too late: Dortmund had
won too, clinching the title.
“We all felt the pain of losing,” Toppmoller
tells FFT. “We’d come so close and looked
the likely winners for months. But I told the
fans to stay positive – there were still two
opportunities to win a title.”
Two was swiftly reduced to one; despite
Leverkusen going ahead in their DFB-Pokal
final against Schalke through a 21-year-old
Dimitar Berbatov, their opponents were 4-1
up before Ulf Kirsten hit a late consolation.
A shell-shocked Toppmoller did his best to
alleviate the despair. “We still have a chance
to win the biggest trophy in European football
at the end of our season,” he reassured.
Madrid’s starting XI at Hampden Park was
packed with firepower. Yet with the world
expecting another collapse from Leverkusen- especially after they went 1-0 down inside
the first 10 minutes – they showed the kind
of quality that had taken them there. The
Germans levelled quickly through a towering
header from Brazilian defender Lucio.
“We looked like the better team,” insists
Toppmoller. “We overwhelmed them when
we broke forward and we played with such
confidence. I was so proud of my players.”
NEVERKUSEN:
THE HAT-TRICK
OF HORROR
nEVERKUSEn
Clockwise from
above “Don’t worry
mate, fourth time
lucky they say”; the
crown fitted Klaus
for a while; Ballack
and Berba enjoyed
the ride; until they
didn’t; “Cigarettes
and drinking, still?”52 July 2022 FourFourTwo