Bayer Leverkusen Soccer Club

WE COULD GO DOWN - AUGENTHALER

Wolfsburg coach Klaus Augenthaler has admitted for the first time that his side face the prospect of relegation to the second division. The former Bayer Leverkusen and Nurnberg coach has seen his side lose consecutively to his former clubs, leaving Wolfsburg just two points clear of the drop zone. And Augenthaler, whose side have won just once since he took over from Holger Fach on December 29, has demanded improvement. "We are in the midst of a battle to avoid relegation and now the time has come to roll our sleeves up and show whether we are man enough," he said. On Saturday the Wolves entertain the Bundesliga's form side Hannover, who were unfortunate to be held to a 1-1 draw by another of Augenthaler's ex-clubs Bayern Munich at the weekend.

LEVERKUSEN LOOK TO RECOVER AFTER SHIPPING SEVEN

Bayer Leverkusen have reached a crucial point in their season and now face Duisburg to see in which direction they are heading.
A win could lift 10th-placed Bayer into a group of teams chasing a European place next season but defeat could see them dragged into a relegation battle.
Losing 7-4 to Schalke last weekend will have hit team morale, but the fact they scored four goals away from home will be taken as a positive by coach Michael Skibbe.
He may not have to worry about his attack but his defence remains a major worry and it is there where changes in personnel could be made.
"We could make one or two changes," said Skibbe, indicating Jens Nowotny and Roque Junior, who both played at the centre of defence in a midweek friendly win over Cologne, could replace Juan and Clemens Fritz at the weekend.
Duisburg coach Jurgen Kohler was Bayer's director of football until the arrival of Rudi Voller in 2004.
On Saturday he takes the Zebras to his former employers looking to lift them out of the bottom three, but is well aware of the size of the task facing his minnows in Leverkusen.
"They are a team capable of playing in Europe and they are clear favourites," he said.
"But I feel it is time my team earned their reward for the way they are improving."
In particular Kohler has been impressed with strike pair Klemen Lavric and Markus Kurth recently, and they will be given the responsibility of scoring the goals at the BayArena.
"My strikers have proved themselves in training and now need to convert that into goals in a game," he added.
However, Duisburg have managed just two draws from their previous 10 trips to Leverkusen and are yet to win there.

Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 MSV Duisburg

Bayer Leverkusen needed a late goal to take three points from a Duisburg side that had battled back to equalise from two goals down.
Paul Freier and Tranquillo Barnetta put Leverkusen ahead inside 10 minutes at the BayArena but then Klemen Lavric equalised for Duisburg with two goals.
However, Dimitar Berbatov found the net to ensure a home victory after Duisburg's Marino Biliskov had been sent off.
The first goal came after seven minutes when Bernd Schneider played in a good pass to Freier who advanced into the penalty area and put a powerful shot into the top corner from 18 yards.
Barnetta scored the second two minutes later when Marko Babic and Berbatov combined to put the ball into the area for him to volley into the net.
Duisburg scored their first just before half-time when Dirk Lottner passed the ball out wide to Ahn Jung-Hwan.
The Korean crossed it to the unmarked Lavric who volleyed past Leverkusen goalkeeper, Hans-Jorg Butt.
Leverkusen had two chances after the break, but both were well-saved by opposition keeper Georg Koch who managed to parry the ball away from the net.
Duisburg levelled up after 65 minutes as Lottner delivered a free-kick which Lavric was able to put into the back of the net to score his second of the match.
Just as things were looking good for the visitors, Biliskov got a straight red card for headbutting Barnetta as Duisburg went down to 10 men, with 13 minutes left to play.
Leverkusen made the extra man pay as they scored eight minutes later when substitute Jacek Krzynowek sent over a cross from the wing which Berbatov headed in for the winner five minutes before time.