Welcome back to my latest trip down memory lane – or Gedächtnisspur, as they would say in Germany (according to Google Translate, anyway).
I’m managing Bayer Leverkusen on Championship Manager 99/00 and trying to deliver success to a club that endured far too many near-misses in real-life. You can catch up on Part 1 right here, but in today’s chapter, we will continue our Bundesliga title pursuit and attempt to qualify for the second phase of the Champions League.
So, as I believe the saying goes in Leverkusen, “Ich werde im grab deiner mutter kotzen!”
(Sorry? WHAT did I say about your mother?)
OCTOBER 1999
Just to recap… at the start of October, Leverkusen are 8th in the Bundesliga, and top of our Champions League group (though only just). We’ve also lost our captain Jens Nowotny and right-back Boris Zivkovic to injury for the best part of a month… and our next four matches are all away from home.
At least our gaffe-prone goalkeeper Adam Matysek hasn’t yet done anything completely stupid…
ULM 1-2 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 6)
I don’t know what compelled Matysek to try and cut Dragan Trkulja’s feet off his legs, but it wasn’t his smartest move. The referee pointed to the spot and dismissed Adam before substitute keeper Dirk Heinen came on to try and keep out Frank Kinkel’s penalty. He couldn’t.
Just as well we had Zé Roberto and Oliver Neuville on to bail us out, wasn’t it? Their goals either side of half-time turned the game around, while Heinen produced some fine saves to keep us ahead. Matysek’s bacon had been spared, not least because Ulm midfielder Janusz Gora’s two-footed lunge on Robson Ponte late on ensured that he wasn’t the only 30-something Pole to see red.
After the October internationals, our third goalie – Frank Juric – got his first taste of competitive football this season. The Round 3 draw for Germany’s domestic cup – the DFB-Pokal – had given us an away tie against second-tier Stuttgarter Kickers.
STUTTGARTER KICKERS 1-2 LEVERKUSEN (aet) (DFB-Pokal – Round 3)
We scraped through, but the jury was out on Juric. Despite making some fantastic saves and being named ‘man of the match’, the Aussie had still failed to keep out a tame shot from Eberhard Carl in the 39th minute. That had cancelled out Leverkusen defender Torben Hoffmann‘s opener from half an hour earlier.
Our fans got even more anxious in the 58th minute, after Ulf Kirsten inexplicably planted his head onto Kickers left-back Stefan Minkwitz’s noggin. The stalwart striker’s dismissal left us having to play with 10 men for the remaining half-hour plus extra-time, when Robert Kovac finally got us the win.
And our reward for that victory? A Round 4 tie at home to Dortmund, who were 2nd in the Bundesliga and still undefeated. Nice and easy.
In other news, I’ve started looking for a new goalkeeper to replace Matysek the Clown. There’s this Italian fella at Manchester United who looks competent, and my scouts seem to agree. Worth a shot, perhaps?
Anyway, I decided to give Matysek one more chance when we arrived in France for a critical Champions League group match. Could he finally come good when we needed him most?
MARSEILLE 2-0 LEVERKUSEN (Champions League – Phase 1 Group A, Match 4)
Matysek needs to get out right now. Marseille scored from each of their only two shots on target in the first half – a Stéphane Dalmat free-kick, and a 44th-minute drive from Florian Maurice. As a result, Matysek’s match rating dropped to 4, and I replaced him with Juric at half-time.
Though Frank kept a clean sheet in the second half, the damage had been done. Our first defeat in this season’s Champions League – together with Mallorca’s 4-0 demolition of Brøndby – saw us drop from 1st to 3rd in Group A. Enjoy the transfer list, Adam.
Speaking of naughty boys…
Actually, there’s an error in that message. Kirsten is actually banned for eight matches in all German competitions, which means we won’t see him in league or cup action again until… December. [Sigh]
HAMBURG 3-1 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 7)
The Leverkusen bad boys’ club has yet another new member. Emerson was the latest player to see red, receiving his second booking when we were 2-1 down to Hamburg, with Vahid Hashemian and Roy Präger having cancelled out Zé Roberto‘s opener. Polish winger Jacek Dembinski completed HSV’s turnaround to compound a miserable afternoon in which we also lost Kovac to a serious knee ligament injury.
LEVERKUSEN 2-0 BRØNDBY (Champions League – Phase 1 Group A, Match 5)
We returned to form by sweeping past Brøndby in the Champions League. The Danes went on the defensive from the very start, but right-winger Frankie Hejduk still managed to drive a couple of excellent strikes past them. With Ponte having failed to extend his early-season purple patch, and Bernd Schneider averaging a pitiful 6.25, maybe it might be time for Hejduk to start more games.
Oh, and did you see that nil next to Brøndby’s name? Juric kept a clean sheet! Praise the heavens!
Marseille secured their place in the next phase by beating Mallorca 2-0 – a result which sent us ahead of our Spanish rivals in 2nd place. That means we too will qualify with a draw at Son Moix next week, though defeat will spell elimination.
Meanwhile on the injury front, Stefan Beinlich strained his calf and Zoran Mamic damaged his shoulder. At least captain Nowotny is now back to full fitness. Guess what happened when we hosted Hertha?
LEVERKUSEN 1-1 HERTHA BSC (Bundesliga – Match 8)
If you said, “Nowotny was sent off after an hour for a two-footed lunge on Ali Daei,” you would be correct. Daei would later secure a draw for Hertha providing a belated response to Thomas Reichenberger‘s 10th-minute opener. To make matters worse, we would’ve led 2-0 had Neuville not been bedazzled by Gabor Kiràly’s jogging bottoms and fired a penalty straight at the Hungary keeper.
October ended with Leverkusen in 10th position – nine points adrift of leaders Bayern München, albeit with a game in hand. Now, though, it was time for our date with destiny in the Champions League.
NOVEMBER 1999
After we arrived in the Balearics, I gave my players two simple objectives for the all-or-nothing showdown with Mallorca. Number 1: “Do not lose.” Number 2: “Do not make any silly early mistakes.”
MALLORCA 3-0 LEVERKUSEN (Champions League – Phase 1 Group A, Match 6)
I can’t believe this. It took all of 14 minutes for our gameplan to fall apart, when Hoffmann cynically upended Carlos and got himself sent off. Even worse followed in the 40th minute, when Nowotny pushed Mallorca right-back Lauren in the box to gave away a penalty, which Jovan Stankovic converted.
When striker Carlos added a second home goal just before the break, we faced an almost impossible task. We couldn’t fight back in the second half, and Carlos sealed our elimination by making it 3-0 late on.
Finishing 3rd in our Champions League group meant we dropped into the UEFA Cup. For our younger readers, the UEFA Cup is what the Europa League used to be when it was a trophy still worth winning.
The draw for Round 3 (the Last 32 phase) pitted us against Dinamo Kiev – and their iconic coach Valery Lobanovsky. We could have had a better draw, for certain.
SCHALKE 04 1-0 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 9)
Next up in the league was a trip to Gelsenkirchen, where – for once – it was our opponents who lost their discipline. Schalke had four players booked, including defender Yves Eigenrauch, who was sent off early in the second half for shoving Reichenberger. Despite that, they still snatched the points after Ebbe Sand’s drive evaded Heinen.
I make that four defeats in six matches. About time we spent some money, isn’t it?
All right, I know what you’re thinking. WHY have I spent £4million on Massimo Taibi – a goalkeeper whose real-life exploits with Manchester United suggested that he wasn’t even worth £4?
For one thing, this isn’t real-life. Taibi’s attributes in CM99/00 – especially his Positioning, Agility and Decision-making – are actually pretty bloomin’ good. He just didn’t make any kind of impact at United because Alex Ferguson preferred to go with Mark Bosnich in goal. I’m sure the Red Devils’ loss will be our gain.
We also had offers rejected for several defenders on my shortlist, including Monaco’s Willy Sagnol, Leeds’ Jonathan Woodgate… and Schalke’s Yves Eigenrauch. Yeah, I know he did a Di Canio on one of our players, but at least Eigenrauch knows more about defending than some of the headless chickens in our own backline.
LEVERKUSEN 2-0 ROSTOCK (Bundesliga – Match 10)
We’re back in business, folks. Rostock goalkeeper Martin Pieckenhagen saved everything we threw at him in the first half, but Ponte found a way through early in the second half before Neuville secured the points. At the other end, Taibi kept a comfortable debut clean sheet, troubled only by a last-minute effort from Magnus Arvidsson.
LEVERKUSEN 0-2 DINAMO KIEV (UEFA Cup – Round 3, Leg 1)
Typi-bloody-cal. We couldn’t register Taibi for the UEFA Cup, so Juric went back in goal… and hopelessly let in a couple of second-half efforts from Viktor Leonenko and Alexander Radchenko. That’s us out of Europe before Christmas, surely?
In transfer news, I allowed Iranian reserve winger Darioush Yasdani to join semi-professional third-division side Lohhof on loan for the rest of the season. I tried to offer Matysek out as well… but Lohhof didn’t think he was good enough for them.
BIELEFELD 1-2 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 11)
I experimented with playing Ponte at left-wing in this match – and it paid off handsomely, as Robson tormented Bielefeld and scored a sublime direct free-kick. Neuville then doubled our lead in the 76th minute, but Artur Wichniarek’s long-distance free-kick for the hosts two minutes later ensured a nervy finish. I was as relieved as anyone when the full-time whistle blew with us in…
DECEMBER 1999
December began with our DFB-Pokal Round 4 match against Dortmund, who were still unbeaten in the Bundesliga. Michael Skibbe’s side had outclassed us in the season-opener four months earlier, but could we exact revenge?
LEVERKUSEN 1-0 DORTMUND (DFB-Pokal – Round 4)
You bet. After frustrating Dortmund’s attack in the first half, I brought a somewhat tired Neuville off the bench… and he proceeded to head in an early second-half cross from Michael Ballack. BVB failed to produce a response, and so we progressed to a Quarter Final at home to Duisburg.
Let’s quickly move on to our next league game, which was… at home to Duisburg, funnily enough!
LEVERKUSEN 4-1 DUISBURG (Bundesliga – Match 12)
Let’s hope this is a sign of things to come. Schneider kicked things off with a 14th-minute free-kick that brought him his first Leverkusen goal. Neuville then netted a brace to move onto 10 for the season, though Markus Bierle squeezed in a Duisburg penalty after a clumsy foul from our right-back Jörg Reeb.
We built on our 3-1 lead in the second half, when Schneider’s low cross was smashed in by Hejduk. The undisputed star of the show, though, was Neuville, whose fancy woodwork drew a couple of bookings out of Jörg Neun. Once the Duisburg left-back was dismissed, victory was never in doubt.
Then came the second leg of our UEFA Cup tie. We had to overturn a two-goal deficit against Dinamo Kiev – in the Ukraine. We needed a miracle.
DINAMO KIEV 1-2 LEVERKUSEN (3-2 agg) (UEFA Cup – Round 3, Leg 2)
Miracles can happen… but one didn’t happen here. Kirsten rolled back the years to net twice midway through the first half and erase Kiev’s advantage (yes, one of those goals was a penalty, but whatever). Indeed, the 34-year-old could have had a hat-trick before half-time.
Unfortunately for us, Dinamo exploded into life after the break. Sergei Rebrov had a goal ruled out for offside in the 57th minute, but five minutes later, he burst through our backline to score for real. That gave us half an hour to score again and secure an away goals victory, but it wasn’t to be.
Late substitute Hejduk lasted just nine minutes before being helped off the field with a dead leg, thus reducing us to 10 men. With that fateful blow, our European adventure came to an early, sorry end.
WOLFSBURG 1-2 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 13)
Our fourth straight away win was effectively secured in the first seven minutes. Two quickfire goals from Neuville left Wolfgang Wolf’s Wolfsburg whimpering early on. The post then denied Oliver his hat-trick in the closing stages before Andrzej Juskowiak got the hosts a consolation from the penalty spot.
This result took us up to 5th place – behind only Bayern München, Dortmund, Freiburg and Schalke. Next on the horizon was a home game with mid-table Werder Bremen, which Carsten Ramelow would miss through suspension after collecting his fifth booking this term. Silly boy.
LEVERKUSEN 2-1 WERDER BREMEN (Bundesliga – Match 14)
I’ll level with you… it didn’t bode well when winger Marco Bode’s header evaded Taibi’s fingertips in the 13th minute, giving Werder an early lead. We had to work hard to get back in the game, eventually succeeding with a typical Neuville drive on 74 minutes. Ponte then popped a Beinlich cross into the next six minutes later to complete the comeback – and avenge our DFB-Ligapokal defeat from July.
Five league wins on the trot, so… who’s next?
Erm… it’s Bayern. The reigning champions, who are 2nd with 36 points from 15 games, and whose striker Giovane Elber has already scored a preposterous 25 goals in all competitions this season. Uh-oh.
LEVERKUSEN 0-2 BAYERN MÜNCHEN (Bundesliga – Match 15)
Make that 27 goals in all competitions for Elber. The Brazilian was truly unplayable, smashing in an irresistible opener in the 18th minute before following it up with a tidier finish in the 70th. His colossal strike partner Carsten Jancker also hit the woodwork, so it could have been even worse.
At the other end, it sadly became clear midway through the second half that Neuville had run out of steam after his recent surge in form. There were also no goals from Kirsten in the veteran’s first domestic match for over two months.
Defeat left us 11 points adrift of Bayern in 2nd place, and a further point behind still-undefeated frontrunners Dortmund. If it hadn’t become apparent already, then the DFB-Pokal now clearly represented our only chance of claiming some silverware this season.
LEVERKUSEN 1-0 DUISBURG (DFB-Pokal – Quarter Final)
We moved a step closer to glory… but not before a real struggle against Duisburg. Taibi needed to repel a couple of free-kicks from Danish hardman Stig Tøfting in a first half that the Zebras dominated. It looked like we were about to make donkeys of ourselves…
…until I made two inspired substitutions in the second half. With a quarter-hour left, Schneider nodded the ball across to 22-year-old debutant Ersin Demir, who’d been in hot scoring form for our reserve team. The young Turk struck a speculative effort that beat keeper Gintaras Stauce and powered us into the next round.
Unfortunately, it would be a while before we found out who we would face in February’s Semi Final. It was also unlikely that reserve left-back Vratislav Gresko would play any part in that after being ruled out for two months with a groin strain. (Christ, I’d forgotten how much more severe injuries were 20 years ago.)
LEVERKUSEN 2-0 1860 MÜNCHEN (Bundesliga – Match 16)
This straightforward victory against a toothless 1860 München side was bittersweet for Zé Roberto. Our left-wing maestro netted a superb 28th-minute free-kick, but then came off five minutes later after hurting his hand in a challenge from opposing right-back Harald Cerny. (See the photo at the top of this article.)
Emerson then won a penalty off Gerald Vanenburg just before the half-hour, allowing Kirsten to double our lead from 12 yards. Ulf has now scored five goals this season, but four of them were penalties. Maybe at 34 years old, he’s decided to reinvent himself as a German Matt Le Tissier.
That was our final match of the decade, so let’s all meet up in the year 2000. Won’t it be strange when we’re all fully grown?
JANUARY 2000
Jarvis Cocker’s old friend Deborah has brought her baby, and a new millennium has begun… with the draw for the DFB-Pokal Semi Finals. We were drawn to host Hertha BSC on 16 February, with the winners facing either Kaiserslautern or 1.FC Köln in May’s Final.
You can find out how we get on in the next chapter. Ahead of that, though, we’ve one more Bundesliga match to get through before German football has its winter break. Victory at home to 4th-placed SC Freiburg would move us up to 3rd, ahead of our opponents and Schalke.
LEVERKUSEN 2-0 SC FREIBURG (Bundesliga – Match 17)
What a way to kick off the year! After just 11 minutes, Neuville netted his 11th Bundesliga goal to move into 2nd place on the goal charts (behind the irrepressible Elber, who’s now got double that). Kirsten hasn’t been quite so prolific, but he did net a fifth penalty of the campaign shortly afterwards, following a foul from Freiburg’s Andreas Zeyer.
The Freiburg attackers posed little danger to Taibi in the second half, aside from when he had to save successive efforts from Alexander Iashvili. The Italian’s solid start to his Leverkusen career continued with a fifth clean sheet in 10 games, and the Bundesliga table made for a pretty sight at the halfway stage.
The German transfer window closed on 15 January, though we neither signed nor sold anyone else. We gave 36-year-old winger Hans-Peter Lehnhoff a free transfer, but you don’t remember him. Another wideman who will be leaving Leverkusen – though not until the summer – is Stefan Beinlich, who’s signed a pre-contract agreement with Hertha.
You’ll probably be relieved to read that Matysek’s contract also runs out at the end of this season. The Clown is considering offers from FC Sion and Tirol Innsbruck, who are perhaps the only two clubs in Europe that are either brave or stupid enough to take a chance on him.
At the end of January, Zivkovic was named winner of the Bundesliga Player of the Month award. The Croatian defender celebrated by pulling his groin in training and putting himself out until March.
I hope one day I’ll be able to finish a chapter WITHOUT Boris getting himself in bother. Right now, I feel like a British Prime Minister’s biographer.
I’ll leave it there for now, but please come back next Monday for the concluding part of my first season at Leverkusen. Can I banish the real-life demons of 2000 and make this a year of Bundesliga glory for Bayer?
“Lebe wohl für jetzt!”
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