Bayer Leverkusen: The Search for Trophies Continue

A few days ago, I was reading up on the DFB Pokal Final. The article had a picture of Michael Ballack passing in front of the Champions League trophy with a runners-up medal. In 2002, Bayer's dream of succeeding Bayern was over. The night belonged to the Galacticos.

It's been seven years since then. Bayer finally made it into another final. They were on the losing side once again.

In 2002, they didn't just lose the CL final. Bayer also lost the German Cup final. They also gave away the Bundesliga trophy to Bayern on the last day. (Michael Ballack scored an own goal in a 2-0 loss against Unterhaching when all Bayer needed was a draw.)

Today's Bayer is youthful and inexperienced. The Bayer of 2002 was a perfect team with Michael Ballack, Ze Roberto, Lucio, and Emerson. Today's Bayer has Rene Adler in goal, 27-year-old Simon Rolfes as captain, and young strikers like Patrick Helmes.

When I watched the Pokal final, I realized that luck was just not favouring Bayer. Even though I was supporting Werder, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the Bayer players after the final whistle.

Stefan Kiessling was a second late to connect with any ball sent in by Arturo Vidal or Tranquillo Barnetta. Patrick Helmes was much more visible than his striker partner who duly got subbed. Toni Kroos came into the game as a late sub, but it was too little, too late for Leverkusen.

Bayer has been runner-up in the Bundesliga four times. It took Roger Federer three finals to win the French Open but apparently Bayer needs more chances.

On two occasions, they had the title wrapped up but gave it away. On one occasion, they lost two of their final three matches, handing the title to Dortmund. The other occasion was of course 2002. They won the German Cup once but were runners-up twice.

In the 2002 CL final, a wonder strike from Zinedine Zidane beat Bayer. Bayer still made history by becoming the only side to make it to a CL final without winning their domestic league. They even had to qualify for the CL that season. Thus Bayer's only European honour is the 1988 UEFA Cup.

Bayer is a talented side reputed for choking at the last stage. Bayern could consider themselves unlucky for losing the 1999 CL Final, while Chelsea could consider themselves unlucky for losing last year's final, but none of them are as unlucky as Bayer.

Bayer are also highly inconsistent. The best representation of this is the fact that they finished second in the 2001-02 season in the Bundesliga, but flirted with relegation throughout 2002-03, eventually finishing 15th. This was also due to the loss of key players in the form of Ballack and Ze Roberto to Bayern.

How long will Bayer's trophy drought continue?

At the moment, it seems that Bayer will forever remain the unluckiest side in football history.