Ach Mein Gott! Zis party rocks, ja!

After finishing in ninth place in the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen fell short of their target of reaching the prestigious Europa League by some way. Furthermore, the mid-table side compounded their league failure on Saturday, by losing the DFB-Pokal final (the German equivalent of the FA Cup final where the winner receives an Aztec Pimp Cup) to Bundesliga champions VfL Wolfsburg [that’ll be fellow mid-tablers Werder Bremen, actually - Ed.].

So, how did Leverksuen deal with their disappointing season? They threw a gigantic party, of course!

Straight after the cup final at Berlin’s Olympiastadion, the team boarded a bus headed to the capital’s alte Stadtbad (an old converted public swimming pool), where they joined 650 guests from the world of sport and politics. The lucky attendees stayed late into the night, and dined on a horrendously stereotypical feast of curried sausages and chips with mayonnaise.

Clearly, the person who had the most fun was Sascha Dum, who felt the need to throw the fierce hands-beside-head pose in the photo above.

[Bild]

Swiss midfielder reportedly on the Professor’s wishlist

Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta currently plies his trade at Bayer Leverkusen, but is said to be interested in a move to the Premier League. According to press reports, the talented 23-year-old could be on his way to Arsenal, for a fee of around £12m. Leverkusen sporting manager Michael Reschke has said:

“There are enquiries for Tranquillo all the time and we have been talking about this with him.

“We are always in touch with Tranquillo and are attempting to extend his deal.”

Tranquillo - who has his own official club shop - has 18 months left on his Leverkusen contract, but has caught the attention of several European clubs.

UPDATE: Barnetta’s extremely German-sounding agent Wolfgang Voege has told Setanta.com that there has been “no contact with Arsenal whatsoever”. He also revealed that Portsmouth tried to sign him in the January window.

Spoiler bonus: Not familiar with Barnetta’s work? Check out his highlight reel after the jump…

Not the returning hero most fans had in mind…

Joe Kinnear is considering bringing Irish right-back Stephen Carr back to Newcastle just months after Kevin Keegan decided he was surplus to requirements and released him.

Reports have linked both Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen with the 32-year-old but the fact that he is still looking for work two months into the season shows just how substantial that interest was.

Interim boss Kinnear candidly revealed: “We are short at both right and left-back,