'I could have hugged the whole world!'

It was the most spectacular and, in spite of missing out on the title, the most successful European campaign in the club's history. Starting with the qualifier against Red Star Belgrade through to the final against Real Madrid in Glasgow, Bayer 04 played 19 games in the Champions League between August 2001 and May 2002 because of the addition of another group stage. And the Werkself thrilled the whole of Europe with their football. The team included exceptional players like Lucio, Jens Nowotny, Diego Placente, Bernd Schneider, Michael Ballack, Yildiray Bastürk, Carsten Ramelow, Oliver Neuville, Zé Roberto, Ulf Kirsten and Dimitar Berbatov. The coach of this team was Klaus Toppmöller. We visited the 64-year-old in his home town of Rivenich an der Mosel and spoke to him about unexpected meetings with fellow coach Javier Irureta, his trouble with Marcello Lippi, the special relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson and the final against Real Madrid...

Mr Toppmöller, let's talk about the 2001/02 season.
Toppmöller: I'd be glad to. That season was an absolute dream. Nobody bargained on us beforehand. Udo Lattek was the one to predict the highest finish in the Bundesliga – in seventh place.

Most people didn't think much of Bayer 04's chances on the European stage...
Toppmöller: We had to get through the qualifying round. And Red Star Belgrade were a real hurdle. Above all in the first leg in Belgrade in front of 50,000 spectators, we had to keep a cool head in a very excitable atmosphere. The goalless draw was a good base for the second leg, which we won comfortably 3-0. We made the step up to the European elite.

And you met some top clubs in the group stage like Lyon and Barcelona. Bayer 04 definitely weren't the favourites in that group.
Toppmöller: Our first match in Lyon was extremely important. Olympique were an absolute top team with a lot of Brazil and France internationals. Lucio had an outstanding match and Ulf Kirsten scored the winner for us at 1-0. We picked up the first three points.

Ulf Kirsten didn't always have much luck with you over the rest of the season.
Toppmöller: I didn't always play him because I also wanted to develop Dimitar Berbatov. Ulf still holds that against me today. I always said to him if the young player is as good as the older one than the younger one will always play for me. Nevertheless, Ulf did get to play and he scored some incredibly important goals for us. I'm thinking of his last-minute goal in the game against Arsenal. Only Ulf could score a goal like that. He almost had to put his back out to get the cross. It was acrobatic. If Berbatov had had the irrepressible determination and edge like Ulf then he would have been perfect. Everything was so easy for Berbo. In terms of football. he was a delight to watch – but in the 2001/02 season he was also a bit of a Mr Missed Chances.

Barcelona visited the BayArena in the first home game of the group stage. What the Süddeutsche Zeitung later described as "Toppmöller's Cultural Revolution", looked completely different in the first half...
Toppmöller: They had us on the ropes in the first half. I opted for a more defensive approach given the offensive power of Barca with players like Kluivert and Saviola. But I was so annoyed that Barcelona showed us up that I switched to a back three for the second 45. Yildiray Bastürk came on, we had more players in midfield, turned the game round and won 2-1. Definitely deserved in the end.

Bastürk was one of your favourite players, wasn't he?
Toppmöller: I always liked players who knew what to do with the ball. Yildiray was one of them. So was Bernd Schneider of course. When I came, Bernd was not a first choice in the team. But I definitely wanted to bring him in. In the beginning he even played at right-back for me.

On the other side you had another brilliant technician...
Toppmöller: Diego Placente. Oh yes, Diego was so underestimated in the beginning. He came to Leverkusen almost as an add-on to Lucio. Diego was tactically perfect and I could have sent him home at every training session. He did everything right automatically. He and Zé Roberto made everybody dizzy on the left flank throughout Europe.

You had a lot of fantastic players in the side. Who was your most important contact in the team?
Toppmöller: Michael Ballack. He was an absolute leader. I always discussed with him how we should approach the game depending on the state of play. Ballack dedicated himself to the team and that was phenomenal. It was never too much for him to help out at the back particularly in the matches in Liverpool and Manchester. Ballack had the season of his life in that year. At the same time, he didn't have it easy with the fans at the beginning who held it against him that he was going to Bayern. I remember a fan club meeting well when there was a really bad atmosphere because of that. I was fully behind Michael and I promised the fans that he would have an outstanding season. But we actually had lots of great players in the team.

Bayer 04 achieved qualification for the second group stage perfectly with the win in Istanbul. And now there was a really tough challenge: Arsenal, Juventus and Deportivo La Coruna. The opener in Turin was a hazy affair…
Toppmöller: The match was postponed twice because of fog. You really couldn't play. But what happened to us afterwards was dubious. Anyway, we only got back to our hotel at 3:30 in the morning and had to play again at 1 o'clock – and we lost 4-0. After the game, Juve coach Lippi said at the post-match press conference that he never imagined the game against us would be so easy. That really annoyed me and I swore he'd get his comeuppance in Leverkusen. We won 3-1 and my first sentence at the press conference was: I never imagined it would be so easy against Juve.

It was anything but easy against Deportivo La Coruna. A lot of people still rave about the win there...
Toppmöller: They were also a great team back then. Roy Makaay, Valeron and Diego Tristan were in the side. We had to win in La Coruna to be sure of going through to the quarter-finals. I went for a walk on the sea front the day before the game with Peter Hermann and we had the wonderful city to the left of us. Suddenly I said to Peter, look there's the Deportivo coach, Javier Irureta. He had his arms behind his back and looked like a schoolteacher with his glasses. He was also going for a walk. I spoke to him and he talked to me in English. He was incredibly nice and friendly. In the game against us, Irureta took out two or three good players like Valeron and Diego Tristan as Deportivo were already through to the next round. We won 3-1 and Michael Ballack had a brilliant match. I had the habit of going back to the dressing room after the press conference and the interviews to see if somebody had forgotten anything. I did it that time too. Our dressing room was completely empty. On leaving I went past the Deportivo dressing room. And there, all alone, Irureta was sitting at a table. I went up to him and thanked him for not putting out his best team. He just smiled. But I knew that he would be happy that Arsenal went out because of our win. Perhaps, I picked up some bonus points from him from our discussion on the beach at La Coruna.

Wasn't this tour through Europe that led you to the top clubs on the continent somewhat intoxicating?
Toppmöller: I didn't see it like that because we didn't have time to think a lot about how we were doing. It just kept going – in three competitions, blow by blow.

Next up in the Champions League were the big matches against Liverpool and Manchester United.
Toppmöller: English football has always excited me. I often went there to watch matches as a spectator. I went to the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley. My father treated me as a present for passing my Abitur exams. Later, as a coach, I received an offer from Fulham. But I didn’t take the job as I thought my English wasn't good enough. And now we were playing at Anfield.

And you came back to Leverkusen in a good position.
Toppmöller: I opted for a somewhat more defensive approach at Anfield because Liverpool were so strong at home. We were a bit unlucky to lose 1-0. After that I went to Liverpool once or twice to watch them before the second leg. In the VIP area, I met up with Marcus Babbel who was injured. He said to me that Liverpool had only conceded more than one goal once in that season. I said I'll wait and see. The rest is well known: We scored four goals in the second leg. But we needed that in a dramatic encounter.

It was no less exciting than the semi-final against Manchester United. Was the performance at Old Trafford even better than the 4-2 win against Liverpool?
Toppmöller: Yes! For me, the 2-2 draw was our best game. The Manchester United fans honoured our performance with a standing ovation. It was a fantastic experience. We were then incredibly lucky at home in the second leg as Manchester United were the better team. Diego Placente headed the ball off the line just before the end of the game. And then there was no holding back for me. It was madness, we were in the final. I ran onto the pitch and I could have hugged the whole world.

You saw Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary coach at Manchester United, as your role model. Did you get to know him a bit better during these two clashes?
Toppmöller: Yes, and I was in very close contact with him for years afterwards. We used to phone each other regularly and even exchange letters.

The team was handicapped in terms of personnel for the final...
Toppmöller: The torn cruciate Jens Nowotny suffered in the second leg against Manchester United was a bitter blow. Zé Roberto was suspended. The team was down to the bare bones.

How did you set up your team?
Toppmöller: We definitely didn't want to sit back. I wanted us to control the game. And then we conceded a goal on nine minutes and I was almost crazy about how it came about. In the preparation for the match I talked until I was blue in the face about throw-ins from Roberto Carlos. We knew about that. And then we were caught out by a throw-in like that with Raul scoring to make it it 1-0. But the team hit back with the equaliser from Lucio. And we still had chances after Zidane put Real 2-1 up. Unfortunately, we didn't have luck on our side in the final in Glasgow that we had against Manchester United.

What went through your head after the final whistle?
Toppmöller: My first thought was: Damn it, we should have won the game as we were better. But then I said to the team in the dressing room that they’d had a brilliant run. At that time we were playing the most attractive football in Europe. And we gained a lot of appreciation abroad.

Not annoyed about missing out on the title?
Toppmöller: No, I don't yearn for any lost titles. Except for Bayern Munich, every club would have signed up immediately to guarantee a season like that and the way we played. When I was young I always said: I'm not interested in titles, I want to give people attractive matches and I want to play football. Football should be inspiring. And that's what we achieved back then.

HERE is the link to Werkself Magazin no. 5.