Europe League
UEFA Cup winner Role models for Leverkusen
Leverkusen’s players during final training. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
It is exactly 35 years ago that Bayer Leverkusen celebrated the greatest success in the club’s history by winning the UEFA Cup. The anniversary is about getting into the final of the Europa League.
The 1988 UEFA Cup winners are an additional boost for Bayer Leverkusen on the way to the hoped-for final in the follow-up Europa League competition.
“Of course that motivates you, even if it’s a long time ago,” said sporting director Simon Rolfes before the semi-final second leg against AS Roma. It will kick off at 9 p.m. (RTL) exactly 35 years to the day after the triumph at that time.
At the entrance, according to Rolfes, there is “after all, the trophy”, a replica of the 1988 pot that has its permanent place in the BayArena. “Moreover, one or the other 88er also works in the club and told us a lot about what it was like back then, when they won the trophy despite the defeat in the first game.” At that time the final was played in two games. Leverkusen lost 3-0 at Espanyol Barcelona, won the second leg 3-0 and clinched the trophy on penalties.
0:1 deficit
Today’s generation only needs to catch up from a 0-1 draw to reach the final on May 31st. “And we hope that we can invite them all to Budapest,” said Rolfes of the previous generation, who achieved the greatest success in the club’s history to date. After that, Bayer only won one more title in the 1993 DFB Cup.
Goalkeeper Rüdiger Vollborn from the winning team from 1988 is still with the club as a fan representative. Libero Thomas Hörster was head coach of the Bundesliga team for a short time in 2003, worked before and after that as a youth coach and is now a scout.