GERMANY: BAYER LEVERKUSEN PREPARE FOR SECOND LEG OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED.

Record ID: 646813

  • Title: GERMANY: BAYER LEVERKUSEN PREPARE FOR SECOND LEG OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED.
  • Date: 29th April 2002
  • Summary: LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY (APRIL 29, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. THE STADIUM 2. THE GRASS BEING TESTED WITH PAN ONTO SIGN READING CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 3. THE NEWS CONFERENCE 4. BAYER LEVERKUSEN COACH KLAUS TOPPMOELLER SITTING NEXT TO BAYER LEVERKUSEN MANAGER REINER CALMUND 5. (SOUNDBITE) (German) BAYER LEVERKUSEN COACH KLAUS TOPPMOELLER SAYING: "That they (Manchester) are dangerous we know. When they won the Champions League two years ago, they played 1-1 against Turin at home and won 3-2 in Turin. We will have to pull out top-achievement to get into the final. To get into the final would be a dream for Leverkusen. The outlook for Leverkusen is good. We scored two goals in Manchester and we have matters in our own hands at home, weve played well and successfully against others at home." 6. CAMERAMAN 7. (SOUNDBITE) (German) BAYER LEVERKUSEN COACH KLAUS TOPPMOELLER SAYING:"Whether Michael Ballack will play tommorrow is still questionable. He injured his foot on Saturday. Nothing is broken, but there's a lot of swelling. Well have to wait and see. He couldn't play at all yesterday." 8. THE NEWS CONFERENCE 9. (SOUNDBITE) (German) BAYER LEVERKUSEN COACH KLAUS TOPPMOELLER SAYING: "All possibilities remain open. There are still a few games to be played. Well try, well go on confidently. We've played a good round and pleased football-Germany and football-Europe. We want to play the next games with this certainty. I hope that the team manage tommorrow to please the millions of people and play a good game." 10. JOURNALISTS 11. BAYER LEVERKUSEN COACH KLAUS TOPPMOELLER COMING OUT OF THE TRAINING ROOM 12. PLAYERS TRAINING 13. TOPPMOELLER SPEAKING TO DEFENCE-PLAYER JENS NOWOTNY 14. MIDFIELDER CARSTEN RAMELOW RUNS THROUGH THE PICTURE 15. ULF KIRSTEN WARMING UP 16. OLIVER NEUVILLE WARMING UP 17. GOALKEEPER JÖRG BUTT Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 14th May 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA822M50VHY9Q0BTDF37GKZ7E9U
  • Story Text: Inspirational Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Michael
    Ballack will probably have to sit out Tuesday's Champions
    League semifinal second leg at home against Manchester United,
    coach Klaus Toppmoeller said on Monday.



    Leverkusen twice fought back from a goal down to get a
    2-2 draw in the first leg last week at Old Trafford.

    "That they (Manchester) are dangerous we know. When they
    won the Champions League two years ago, they played 1-1
    against Turin at home and won 3-2 in Turin. We will have to
    pull out top-achievement to get into the final. To get into
    the final would be a dream for Leverkusen. The outlook for
    Leverkusen is good. We scored two goals in Manchester and we
    have matters in
    our own hands at home, weve played well and successfully
    against others at home," Toppmoeller said at the news
    conference.

    He also told the news conference that midfielder Michael
    Ballack had bruised his left foot in Saturdays 1-0 defeat to
    strugglers Nuremberg that cost Leverkusen the lead in the
    Bundesliga standings with one game to play.

    "Whether Michael Ballack will play tommorrow is still
    questionable. He injured his foot on Saturday. Nothing is
    broken, but there's a lot of swelling. Well have to wait and
    see. He couldn't play at all yesterday."
    X-ray checks have indicated that there was no fracture nor
    ligament damage, which means the injury did not threaten
    Ballacks participation to the World Cup in South Korea and
    Japan starting on May 31.

    But with Germany already missing Bayern Munichs Mehmet
    Scholl and afraid another midfielder, Hertha Berlins Sebastian
    Deisler, might have to pull out, it seemed unlikely that
    Ballack would take the risk of aggravating his injury by
    playing on Tuesday.

    Leverkusen were in an ideal position to reach the final
    after fighting from a goal down twice for a 2-2 draw in the
    first leg last week at Old Trafford but they then suffered a
    vicious blow.

    "All possibilities remain open. There are still a few
    games to be played. Well try, well go on confidently. We've
    played a good round and pleased football-Germany and
    football-Europe. We want to play the next games with this
    certainty. I hope that the team manage tommorrow to please the
    millions of people and play a good game," he said.

    The Leverkusen coach said he had no other major worry than
    Ballacks injury. Central defender and captain Jens Nowotny had
    a sore thigh muscle but should play, he added.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register