Toss Out Your Asprin

Tomorrow’s visitors to Berlin are Bayer Leverkusen, a club based in the North Rhine-Westphalia region (like so many others, as I like to say). If their name sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking of your medicine cabinet. They were formed in 1904 by workers from the Bayer corporation. Not only do they still have Bayer’s name, they have their logo as well, with the addition of some red lions to make it appear less like a bottle of aspirin.

They have a reputation in Germany for existing simply because of Bayer, without fans or a tradition of their own, although not quite to the level of the Volkswagen-sponsored VfL Wolfsburg. After all, Bayer Leverkusen are of a comparable age to other football clubs and have a shirt sponsor that isn’t Bayer. They also have a strong recent history, with top-4 finishes every year between 1997 and 2002, with four second-place finishes as well. They also lost to Real Madrid in a Champions League final in 2002. While they haven’t reached those heights lately, they are up to their now-customary 5th place in the table.

They’re also in good form, with three wins in their past three league games. In two of those they scored 4 goals- they may have been against Duisburg and Bielefeld, but I doubt Leverkusen were complaining. They also have a strong side, with last season’s top scorer Theofanis Gekas (formerly of Bochum) and German youngster and former U21 star Stefan Kießling up front, up-and-coming German international midfielders in Gonzalo Castro and Simon Rolfes as well as veteran Bernd Schneider (who is, scarily enough for us, nearly back), and startlingly good young goalkeeper René Adler.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have a bit of a crush on René. He’s an adorable, extremely talented goalkeeper about my age, which is exactly the thing to make me go weak-kneed. Even his professed love for Manchester United can’t quite kill it. And he is good. Every time I watch him I end up amazed.

Ahem. Anyway. So Leverkusen are a tough proposition. They won their last two games in Berlin 3-2 and 5-1. We’re also potentially missing several players, although our Brazilians are back. As I reported yesterday, Josip Simunic has the flu, Steve von Bergen has a thigh issue, and Patrick Ebert still has a groin problem, although now they’re saying that he’ll be back.

I’m not sure what to expect, honestly. Our home form is good, but Leverkusen are no slouches. I’m hoping to get something out of this game, certainly, and I think it’s possible. It just all depends on if we’re able to keep concentration and make the most of our chances. It’s another game not on GolTV, so to the ones that can watch it, I hope you enjoy!

Category: match preview

Tags: home, bayer leverkusen, match preview, Tag Index

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