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In the 1972/73 season, both Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen clearly missed their goals – in the then second-tier Regionalliga West. BVB missed direct promotion despite a 9-0 win against Preußen Münster on the last matchday. For Leverkusen, who had not yet played in the Bundesliga, they even went down one league. RW Essen and Fortuna Köln were able to celebrate their promotion.
The Essen team won 26 of their 34 games and scored 104 goals. It was the club’s third promotion to the young Bundesliga, while it would remain the first and only one for Cologne. There was no great excitement on the last match day as both RWE and Fortuna had secured the first two places early. BVB came fourth, nine points behind second place and Dortmund were unable to get into the promotion race.
It was a season to forget for Leverkusen. They only emerged victorious six times and the Werkself lost 20 games. On matchday 32, relegation was only a formality due to the poor goal difference; after a 1:4 defeat at direct rivals SV Arminia Gütersloh, Bayer had to follow Lüner SV into the third division.
The then 23-year-old Manfred Burgsmüller scored the most goals for Bayer Uerdingen, who is now in fifth place in the Bundesliga with 213 goals and should play an important role in German football.
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