There are no afters without a before, and, although the after is really all that counts, for this particular scenario, the before needs some time in the spotlight. Let’s start it at the end of Matchday 29, when the Werkself overcame a one-goal deficit to beat St Pauli 2:1, capitalising on Dortmund’s draw with Hamburg to put us firmly in second place on the table, and a measly five points out of first.

It didn’t take long for the pulse to quicken. The in-form Leverkusen, best club of the Rückrunde pulling to within two wins of overtaking BVB, whose own form was sliding. Against all logic, it became okay to think that the oh-so-elusive league title might just fall to us, the forever runners-up. The next matchday we were to face the year’s most unstable club, FC Bayern, a club bloated on their own hype: chest-thumping, spoiled brats, so petty and envious that, whenever another club has a really cool toy, they hold their breath until their daddy promises to buy it for them.

From the FCB camp, turmoil continued to brew. Louis van Gaal run out of town on a shaved pig, the squad missing two of its most leaned-on players. And then came the injury reports, as is always the case when FCB have a tough opponent to face. Suddenly the stars are wounded or doubtful or crapping blood. Oh, woe is us, opposing club, don’t even bother training.

All the while, we longed for Sunday. Fit and furious. All mouths uttering a single oath:

“We are going to Munich to win.”

How does a guy sleep with a mood like that hanging over him?

And then the sun rose on Matchday 30. On this side of the ocean, it rose not too long before kick-off, so there was no day of clock-watching and news-checking. In Germany, things were no doubt quite different. There were hours of tweets and updates and postings about how truly awesome things just might be, not only if we actually did win, but if Dortmund stumbled once again to Freiburg and our soon-to-be coach, Robin Dutt. That would make us two (TWO!) points out of first. I had already started planning my trip to Germany for the last two matches of the season and post-season festivities, so I could say I was there when Bayer 04 Leverkusen cast off their ragged Neverkusen moniker and lifted an ugly but meaningful trophy.

And that, my friends, is where this story turns to shit.

The first thing amiss was the presence of both Schweinsteiger and Ribery in FCB’s starting eleven. That’s not what the news had told us! And from there began one of the more humiliating performances of our season.

There was not much blame to dump on Rolfes for the own-goal that gave Bayern the lead. It’s not like he had tried to clear and slotted the ball past Rene Adler. He just had the bad luck of having a head in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then came Arturo Vidal, who did a fine job of denying Bayern a corner but, in keeping the ball in play, back-heeled to Thomas Müller.

Two down and shell-shocked, we fell even harder by giving up two more by half-time. Even the consolation goal Derdiyok pulled back for us was slapped down by a fifth from the Bavarians. There was no way to walk off the pitch with heads held high. The match was a disaster for us; a handy reference guide of all the season’s trouble spots, from untrustworthy defending to our continued inability to close the deal despite majority possession, and the knack for really impressive set-ups that end with nowhere to go.

There have been matches this season where things looked hopeless but we managed to fight back, if not to a win then at least enough to say we didn’t just roll over. This wasn’t one of those. The prevailing “Okay, now what?” could be read on all faces. Instead of clenched jaws, tempered in resilience, there were slumped shoulders and the arched eyebrows of the confounded. And on the coach’s bench, Jupp Heynckes, as stuck for ideas as the rest of us.

Next season, Heynckes will be back in Allianz as the coach of the squad that this week-end made a mockery of our all our pre-battle anthems. But before then, he’s got four more weeks to help us make amends.

As the sun sets on matchday 30, there’s very little difference in the actual facts of our situation from what they were at sunrise. Like last week, we are still in second place and have a guaranteed Champions League position. We aren’t five points out of first, but Dortmund don’t look like they’re going to give up two matches anyway. And if they do lose two, it’s just as possible they’ll lose three.

We held no title aspirations three matches back, and we don’t hold them now. Our main focus isn’t on first, and that shouldn’t have been the focus going into this week, either. That it was made so is our own fault. Of more concern is hanging on to our current position, and that nagging feeling that, when all that’s left to play for is second place, the forever runners-up just might be condemned to finish third.

Still, one cannot help but think Ballack was out to deliver something more: a parting shot to Jupp Heynckes, who will likely announce, tomorrow, that he will leave Bayer 04 at season’s end to go roll in the Bavarian muck. Or it could well have been a message to Jogi Löw, who continues to refuse Ballack an opportunity to resume duties on the German National Team. Whatever the reasons, nobody can say after today’s match against Schalke, that Michael Ballack is best left on a bench to be dusted off only in case of emergency.

After going out of the Europa League to Villarreal in unglamorous fashion on Thursday, and Mainz managing to hold Dortmund to a draw on Saturday, Leverkusen needed three points today, if for nothing else than to restore a bit of our battered spirit. Not the most difficult task against a Schalke side in flux, but our club history always is there to instil doubt. This time, at least, any such concern was unwarranted.

From the outset, the thirst for a win and dominance over our guests was clear, nowhere more so than in Ballack’s performance. In what was merely his tenth appearance in league play this season, Ballack made himself integral to Leverkusen’s attack and a pain in the collective ass of Schalke’s midfield.

Ballack’s strength in the air very near gave us a ninth-minute opener, when his header got stopped short by Manuel Neuer. Ten minutes later the NT Captain-in-waiting cruised an expertly-plotted cross to a wide open Eren Derdiyok, who curled the ball into the top right of Neuer’s net. Could have been luck, but let’s settle on calling it genius. Take a look and be careful not to wet yourself:

If Schalke had intended to turn up the pressure, they found their plans further hindered after an own-goal from Christoph Metzelder doubled our lead. We carried on strongly, controlling the action into half-time.

Schalke came out swinging in the second half, but soon found themselves again shut down. Rene Adler, seldom called upon today, handily dealt with the odd attempt from the guests.

Today’s match also saw a return to play for Tranquillo Barnetta, albeit for a meagre few minutes at the end of the match.

As we head into the International break next week, the gap between first-place Dortmund and ourselves has been trimmed to seven points, which BVB will not give up readily. Five points behind us are Hannover. More matches like today’s will cinch our place in the Champions League next year, so it’s crucial we don’t let the background noise of the Coach Carousel distract us.

Although the feel-good hit of the season took 22 matchdays to reach, The Werkself delivered, at Frankfurt’s expense, a sound distraction from last week’s Nürnberg debacle.

With some help from FC Kaiserslautern and a stumped Dortmund side, the gap between the latter club and ourselves has been narrowed to just 10 points.

Elsewhere on the ‘net, match recaps have already been handled earlier and with greater skill than I’m capable of, so instead I invite you to curl up with the three-point warmth of our win and spend a moment considering these:

01. There is no argument that, against Frankfurt, we looked like a squad that could take ownership of a match. The passing was fluid, possession held with relative ease and goal chances sprang eternal. Post-match, Jupp Heynckes said the first half was the best footy he’d seen us play this season. That’s open to debate, especially when you factor in that our opponents seemed quite happy to capitulate to our every whim. Yes. We played a solid match. But when you’re the only lady in the bar, it’s not hard to be the prettiest.

There were still signs of the 70th Minute Snooze we seem to have grown fond of this season, and a handful of missed scoring opportunities which we would have seriously regretted against a club more interested in fighting for a win.

02. Simon Rolfes makes everyone feel good.
It took the captain less than nine minutes to open the scoring, and his role for the week was not done with that. Rolfes was on top of the game and proved an important factor both offensively and defensively. A captain’s armband has never been so deservedly worn.

03. “Arturo is in dazzling form.” So says Rudi Völler, and anyone who’d argue against that is clearly not watching the same Arturo Vidal. Omnipresent on the
pitch, even if he does end up laying on it a bit more than I’d like to see. If Leverkusen were making a goulash of good things, Vidal would be required to stir it. With his foot.

04. Michael Skibbe always looks sad.
Every time the camera panned to him he looked void of ideas, as though he had absolutely no clue what could be done to change the course of the slaughter unfolding on the pitch in front of him.

When a Frankfurt supporter held up a sign suggesting Skibbe should follow Mubarak to Isle of Ousted Leaders, I was reminded of Skibbe’s lonesome walk from the Bayer 04 offices a couple of years ago, chipped coffee mug and chewed Werkself pen set in a cardboard box. I don’t believe Skibbe is the problem, but I do believe he thinks the problem cannot be anything else, and brooding failure is not the cornerstone of anything resembling success.

05. Bild will say just about anything, regardless of how stupid it makes them sound.
“Without Ballack, things go better.”
The confusion many of us felt at hearing that Ballack would be starting on the bench against Frankfurt has since been explained, clad in the machinations of an MRI.
Germany’s NT Captain certainly didn’t look happy to be sitting out the match yesterday, and spent a fair amount of the 90 minutes warming up in the hopes he’d be subbed on.

While the others spent Sunday training, Ballack was having his knee looked at by medical professionals. Nothing serious, thankfully, but Bild’s input was an absurd and unfounded contribution, especially if you look back a couple of weeks to when the same paper was all but attributing our wins against Mönchengladbach and Hannover to Ballack’s return.

06. We’re not the only ones who drop valuable points.
Despite failing to capitalize on the mis-steps of other clubs, we are not alone. This week saw Dortmund forced to settle for a point. Hannover met the same fate in Bremen, and Mainz somehow let themselves be over-run by FC Köln. That’s right. Köln!

The result is that two of our heel-nippers on the table have slid back a little. We’re now four points ahead of Hannover: five ahead of Mainz. Unfortunately, FC Bayern have squeezed their evil claws into the third-place position, and we’re exactly one match’s worth of points ahead of them.

07. As you digest the previous point, here’s some dessert: Mainz and Bayern will play one another next week. The week after that, Bayern play Dortmund, and the week after that they play Hannover. During the same period, we will be facing, in order, Stuttgart, Bremen and Wolfsburg.

Of the current top-five clubs, we’ve only two left to face (Mainz and Bayern). Bayern has to make their way through all the other four, while Dortmund, Hannover and Mainz each have to face three of the other four. Our neighbourhood will be undergoing some changes, and the majority of those changes will happen without any direct involvement from us. Any points dropped are going to cost more than their just face value, and there will be scant opportunity to earn them back.

08. Europa League play resumes this week.
Although we have a comparatively easy set of opponents over the next few weeks in the Bundesliga, we’ll also be playing the next two consecutive Thursdays against Ukraine club, FC Metalist Kharkiv. I suspect these will be hard-fought matches and we must be careful not to let our European achievements cost us too much, domestically. I base this claim on absolutely nothing, but what claim is genuinely based on anything else?

09. My apologies. I am aware that it has been too long since I last updated this blog, and my heart is heavy with shame. Don’t look at me like that. I said I was sorry.

10. There is no tenth point. Its dinner time and I must go prepare some.

In stark contrast to last week’s debacle in virtually every position, some alterations to the starting 11 garnered solid results against the Foals and planted the Werkself back in second place on the table. Of the three goals scored by Leverkusen, though, none were delivered by the usual suspects.

Having returned to a lone-striker formation, Jupp Heynckes opted to start Kießling up front- a suitable reward for the hunger he showed against Dortmund. Sami Hyypiä was back in the starting squad, while Manuel Friedrich sat this one out thanks to a one-match ban. Michael Kadlec also returned, and Gonzalo Castro found himself pushed up to the midfield. Also factoring in from the outset, Arturo Vidal.

Between the three of them, we had all the goals we needed: Kadlec delivering the first from a free kick, Vidal crossing to find Castro just outside the ‘Gladbach goal, and a third, again from Castro on a counterattack after an unnerving flurry of activity that very nearly brought the hosts even.

The Foals managed a single goal, courtesy of Martin Stranzl, but what a goal it was.

The match helped to force Michael Ballack’s return, a topic hotly discussed in the preceding days and a decision Jupp Heynckes had been hesitant to make. When Sidney Sam came off injured after, from what I could see, was a slap in the face, Heynckes had his hand forced and the German National Team Captain strode out to prove what we’d all suspected: he was quite ready to bring his A-game.

Being robbed at knife-point, for example.

Such was the devastation I and, likely, all Leverkusen supporters felt after the 5-and-a-half minute total collapse of our defense that allowed Dortmund to seize three goals and an apparent stranglehold on the league title.

One couldn’t have asked for a bigger return from Winter break. The runaway league leaders visiting the club touted as having the best shot at clipping the leader’s wings. The build-up was ripe with polite bravado from our side: never an out-and-out claim of certain victory, but certainly an implied confidence that we could muster three points. Ballack, finally fit again, left to start on the bench with the coach talking up the emotional boost we’d all enjoy by seeing the National Team captain take the pitch in the latter part of the match, no doubt to fevered howls from a crowd already fired by a comfortable lead, thirsty for more, the number one position so close it could very nearly be gnawed on. At the front, Kießling and Helmes, separated by injury and coaching decisions, were back together to complete some attractive 4-4-2 football. Oh, this was going to be a great day for the Werkself!

And yet here we are.

With respect to Dortmund, who do appear to be locked on course for a league victory, they didn’t win by playing a particularly impressive match. We handed them this win through sheer defensive failure. We waded through the first half, ignoring the warning sounded by Sven Bender’s header to the post in the opening minutes. There was nobody who came on showing any real hunger and we remained unwilling to break through to anything resembling a full-on attacking mind-set.

Our back four, from which Sami Hyypiä was strangely absent, didn’t mesh and left opportunities on which Dortmund graciously failed to capitialize. Luck saved us again just before the halftime, when Robert Lewandowski, free as a wee birdy on the flank, was called offside. Had he not been, it surely would have led to the opening goal and the second half might have played out much differently. Instead, we began the second as we ended the first, while Dortmund came out ready to pounce.

And pounce they did. On the 49th minute, Kevin Großkreutz made full use of some indescribably bad defending that laid the ball directly into prime, scoring position. Dortmund had their first. The shockwaves began there.

Frazzled and dejected, we left the visitors even more space to move. Großkreutz scored his second and neatly set up a third. Only then did Jupp Heynckes make changes to the starting 11, subbing on Barnetta, Vidal and Derdiyok for Sidney Sam, Lars Bender and Patrick Helmes. The difference to the pace was quickly felt. Unfortunately, by the time we looked about ready to start playing the match, some 70 minutes had passed. Ten minutes later, Kieß narrowed the gap to two goals, and it looked very much like a second wouldn’t be long off. If only BVB had remained content to defend, but they instead continued to push forward.

We attack a lot better against defending teams than we defend against attacking ones, and winning the ball wasn’t a strong point for us today. The only notable quality today came from Kießling, who remained resilient, determined and unwilling to quit before the whistle ordered him to do so.

During the lonesome days of the Winter break, while publications that require a certain amount of word-space to be dedicated to football had little else to cover, there was a story, I think it was in Bild, about the quality of various Bundesliga club shops. I read it not only because I, too, needed something- anything- to fill the German football void, but because once again, for the second year in a row, the Bayer 04 shop ruined my Christmas.

Last year, the fan shop, unable to send me a shirt in the requested size, instead sent a fantastically huge one. This year, the long-sleeve, Rolfes home shirt that had been ordered arrived in a short-sleeve, unlettered version. Aside from it being very unGerman behaviour, the errors are frustrating and expensive ones to correct for someone across an ocean.

“How is this possible?” I complained on finding out about the wrong shirt being sent. “How do these mistakes continue to happen?”

I had that same complaint watching the match today. We haven’t looked this unclear on the concept since the second matchday, when we were rolled over by ‘Gladbach.

On a brighter note, we only looked like that way once during the first half of the season, so just maybe this our one-off for the second half.

Video highlights?

Yeah, right. Go pester Clarissa at the BVB Offside for those. I’ve got sorrows to drown.

Pressing deadlines that I have no intention of actually meeting have kept me from keeping those of you who frequent this blog up to date, and for that I apologise. If it means anything to you, I’d much rather put my energies only toward this page. Alas, for a little while longer, it is not to be.

I will try to check in this weekend with reports from the Derby, but if there remains an absence of new words, fear not. You are all in my hearts and I’ll again be free to frolic on The Offside in the not-too-distant future.

In the meantime, let’s all spend some time pondering the repercussions of Qatar’s Shari’a law on the average FIFA referee.

That won’t win the guests any sympathy pity in this particular corner of the Internet, but odds are it will be heavily discussed over at Luke’s FC Bayern Offside page.

It took about a quarter-hour or so for the Werkself to come into the match and start ever so cautiously turning the tables at BayArena. That we didn’t manage to complete that turn has more to do with an unnecessary amount of respect being afforded our guests this week-end. Allowing the Bavarians the room to play to their own preference, we focused on defence with only occasional momentum toward the attack. The master foot work of Sidney Sam reaped him a prime chance that burned his initials into the woodwork- a possible violation of section 86a of the Strafgesetzbuch. Arturo Vidal showed absolute gall- and further endeared himself to Leverkusen supporters with a long-range attempt that almost- but not quite- caught Hans-Jörg Butt off his guard. Michal Kadlec intercepted Lahm’s pass to Thomas Muller with an acrobatic header that was almost ballet; such was its grace and beauty. My soul sighed deeply that it only laid the ball back to the guests. Look on his works, ye mighty, and despair:

We certainly do thrive when it comes to looking good. Goals, on the other hand. Bit of a problem.

Even after Bayern went a goal up in the 34th minute, Mario Gomez picking up a sharp cross from Schweinsteiger to foot in the Mario Special (that being a goal from less than a meter out) there were no signs of capitulation from the Werkself troops, but our big break, wasn’t eked from tenacity and team spirit. It was the result of a completely foolish move on the part of FCB’s Danijel Pranjic. The weasely winger, left one-on-one against Sam on his way to the Bayern goal, hoisted a leg into the latter’s path. Penalty kick awarded. Vidal delivered our equalizer. Half-time rolled in with the opportunity of starting on equal ground.

So where are the other two points we should have taken from this one? Oh, wait…. Here they are!

Despite a performance we can certainly take pride in, we got held up on our way to the win. The strikers we have who remain fit to play appear to be having some difficulties physio can’t fix. Eren Derdiyok’s best shot was a limp and dispassionate close-range launch into Butt’s arms. Jupp Heynckes was in no rush to replace Derdiyok with Patrick Helmes, who has yet to redeem himself for his performance in the ‘Gladbach match that ended our Pokal run. The two strikers playing together? As we saw last week-end, Heynckes would sooner go with no strikers at all.

This is certainly a passing phase and nothing to cancel one’s club membership over. Both Derdiyok and Helmes are pure class when they’re bringing their best, but the goals have been eluding them. And who knows? If Kießling were fit, I might be writing that same thing about him. For now we can blame the injury situation and curse fate. If it didn’t seem such an English complaint, I might even blame that damned ball.

Highlights for you, brief as they are:

The draw sees us slide to third on the table, three wins behind Dortmund, and two points behind Mainz. This is nothing to be ashamed of, and things could be much, much worse. We could be Bayern.

This match against FCB saw us complete the last traditionally difficult opponent we have leading up to the Winter break. Our next four, half of whom are snapping at our tails on table, haven’t historically posed great threat, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to claim 12 more points for Christmas. Next week we travel to Hoffenheim- a club against whom we’ve got a 100% win record. This should be a fine way to ring in First Advent.

The darling side of Punk rockers and malcontents everywhere did not go strongly into the match. Three consecutive losses marred the drink-sopped festivities for the hosts, while we have been inching our way up the table, gaining momentum with each rung of the ladder.

The scales thus tipped, our first half was truly beautiful to behold and rarely did the action venture out of the St Pauli side of the pitch. All we were missing to show for our strength was an actual goal, though not for lack of trying. Our Big Finish is a problem that needs tending to, and one that has been exacerbated by the injuries to Stefan Kießling and Eren Derdiyok, and slip from form of Patrick Helmes. This, however, is no time for accentuating the negatives.

The second half saw St. Pauli come alive, but only former NT-man Gerald Asamoah posed a real threat. His magnificent shot-on hammered into the post, luckily for us, but was the single best chance of going on the board that St Pauli was able to find. Our strength wavered some from the first half show, but we still put out a strong performance. And we still couldn’t find a way to close the attack successfully. When Renato Augusto finally poked the ball past Thomas Kessler in the 81st minute, it almost seemed like consolation for all those missed opportunities at something much flashier. A valiant attempt by Lars Bender could have brought us up to two, but Kessler handily spoiled the party.

Here are the moving pictures of all that while they last:

Three points and a Mainz loss send us second on the table, still seven points back from the BVB machine. The focus now isn’t on catching them, since that’s out of our hands, but rather on maintaining our own success.

The positives abound on review of the St Pauli match. Tight passing and solid control of the midfield. Arturo Vidal continues his relentless pursuit of being everywhere. Manuel Friedrich, looking more and more like Zarathustra come down from the mountain, is a tightly-wound ball of defensive rage. Stefan Reinartz has developed nicely from the start of the season, and might even be missed next weekend when he sits out a match for the absolutely unwarranted fifth yellow he picked up this week.

On a more positive note, Gonzalo Castro made a brief return to the pitch in the final moments of the match, and should be ready to play a larger role next week-end. Sami Hyypiä has returned to training, but it’s still too early to say if he’ll be available when Louis van Gaal’s perfumed show dogs haul their egos to BayArena on Saturday.

An earlier-than-expected return of Renato Augusto to the starting 11 hinted to greater achievement. Simon Rolfes was set for a full 90 minutes. No sloppiness would be tolerated, and, from the outset of this one, a complete turnaround looked to be on the squad’s agenda. Even an early lead by the Red Devils wasn’t enough to stymie that plan.

Leverkusen came out to make amends for Thursday, and that they did. The attack was unrelenting, despite early chances falling short. The midfield fought hard for possession and kept us dominant throughout. Everyone shook off an impressive goal from FCK’s Florian Dick that put the visitors ahead after only 15 minutes, and when Sidney Sam brought us level at the 38th, his third attempt on his former club’s goal, it served to further fuel the squad’s determination. Only the half-time whistle worked to reign us back, and then only for a while.

The second half brought more of the same, Barnetta working to find a goal twice before setting up our second with a tap to Renato Augusto, played through to Rolfes and back to Augusto for a final pass to Patrick Helmes that left ‘Lautern’s ‘keeper without a prayer.

FCK had a good shot at drawing level ten minutes from time, but René Adler got in their way, and then Sam closed the door firmly on their chances with a goal from 25-meters out that even he unabashedly described as “ein Traumtor.”

Check it out here while it lasts, with the added bonus of being able to giggle like an 11-year-old at the words “a powerful drive from Dick”:

The win takes us back to third on the Bundesliga table, a win behind Mainz and seven points behind Dortmund. Next week, we’re off to Millerntor-Stadion to face St. Pauli.

In this case, the positive side of Schalke’s loss is that Leverkusen won.

After the miserable fate we suffered at Mönchengladbach on the second, and for us final, Pokal matchday, Werkself supporters were looking for a triumph to offset the early Pokal exit as well as last week’s loss to Mainz. Schalke, on the other hand, seem to be able to get results anywhere except in league matches. The pressure to give their fans a home win was high and it showed in their play. The hosts kept hold of the ball and forced their way toward any opportunity. We responded with a surprisingly effective defence, waiting for the counter-attacks. But where there was a noticeable improvement in defending, our attack was absent.

Following last weekend’s loss, and several matches of Jupp Heynckes playing the squad with a single striker, Derdiyok and Helmes voiced their disapproval and said they would do much better playing paired in the front. Today, given the chance to prove it, neither came through. Derdiyok sent a free kick wide. Helmes didn’t even muster that much and was pulled off early for it. Nobody can question their skills, but they’ve both been having difficulty putting those skills to use and the difficulties showed no signs of clearing up this match.

René Adler, who has been outstanding of late, was lightly tested. Across the pitch, the guy who snatched the #1 jersey from Adler on the German NT, was given less to worry about. And then Sidney Sam was subbed in for Barnetta.

Sidney Sam is fast. Very, very fast. He is so fast that leaving him room to break away is not a mistake made twice. Unless you’re Schalke, in which case twice is merely where mistakes are just getting warmed up.

Schalke got lucky the first time Sam was given room to run. The second time, Sam left Metzelder looking like a winded old man, and made easy work of Manuel Neuer, firing the ball past our, uh, National Team ‘keeper in the 65th minute for the goal that would ultimately win us this match.

It wasn’t much fun to watch the Werkself bide their time for the remainder of 90 minutes. I like to think we’re better than that. But considering the very hectic schedule we’ve been keeping of late, I’m prepared to look the other way.

Taking three points today was nice, but we’ve got bigger tests ahead and against clubs who aren’t being run out of the league by a man who believed too much of his own press. Depending on what happens between Hoffenheim and Hannover tomorrow, we may end this week in third. Not a bad place to be, but precarious when you consider there are only three points difference between third place and tenth. Our schedule has just been made one tournament lighter, but that also lightens some of the ability to use fatigue as an excuse.

We have until Thursday to get some rest and prep for Aris F.C.’s visit to BayArena. Then, on Sunday, we host Kaiserslautern. They’re the guys who knocked us out of the Pokal last year….