Arturo Vidal, Toni Kroos, Michael Ballack and the players who played for Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen

bundesliga.com runs you through a team of big names to have made themselves homes in both Munich and Leverkusen…

Hans-Jörg Butt

At Leverkusen: 191 Bundesliga games (2001-2007)

At Bayern: 63 Bundesliga games (2008-2012)

Butt had a pretty extraordinary career and is perhaps best remembered as a goalkeeper who scored goals rather than prevented them. The 26 he netted in the Bundesliga is the most by a goalkeeper - all from the penalty spot. He missed only four league games between August 1997 and February 2007 with Hamburg and (from 2001) Leverkusen, where he was first choice in the Werkself side that famously finished runners-up in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup and UEFA Champions League in 2002. The four-time Germany international scored eight times in 263 competitive appearances for Leverkusen, before leaving for Benfica in 2007 after being ousted by Rene Adler.

He was back in the Bundesliga a year later, though, when Bayern picked him up on a free. He made a total of 91 appearances over four years in Munich, sometimes being No.1 but sometimes back-up. He became the first goalkeeper to score in regular time for the club when he converted a penalty against Juventus in the 2009/10 Champions League group stage - all three of his European goals actually came against the Italians, with one each for HSV, Leverkusen and Bayern. After the 2002 final, he reached the Champions League showpiece two more times with Bayern, in 2010 and 2012, but had already been demoted to No.2 behind Manuel Neuer by the time the latter came around. It was the second time he'd been a treble runner-up - the only Bundesliga player to suffer the fate twice. Butt retired at the end of that season.

Jorginho

At Leverkusen: 87 Bundesliga games (1989-1992)

At Bayern: 67 Bundesliga games (1992-1995)

Jorginho - full name Jorge de Amorim Campos - was at the dawn of the era of Brazilians donning the colours of Leverkusen, being the second of now 23 players from his nation to represent the Werkself. Already a silver medallist from the 1988 Olympics, he arrived on German soil a year later and would become the first Bundesliga-based player to play for Brazil and went to the 1990 FIFA World Cup. The right-back played 101 times for Leverkusen over three seasons, very often in an attacking wing-back role.

His displays caught the eye of those in Munich, and Bayern signed the Rio de Janeiro native in 1992. He immediately found his place in the team and started all but one Bundesliga game in his maiden campaign. Despite being less of a regular in the following season, he still picked up his sole Meisterschale before heading to the USA and playing every game as Brazil lifted the 1994 World Cup. He left Bayern in 1995 after 80 appearances - and 181 all told in Germany - as he moved to Japan before a return home for the final years of his career.

Robert Kovac

At Leverkusen: 127 Bundesliga games (1996-2001)

At Bayern: 94 Bundesliga games (2001-2005)

Robert's older brother Niko also played for both clubs and would go on to win the double as head coach at Bayern, but the younger Kovac spent more time with both teams and also made a direct transfer between the two in 2001. After starting at Hertha Zehlendorf in his native Berlin and joining from relegated Nuremberg, the defender's five-year stay at the BayArena saw him make 162 appearances for Die Werkself and establish himself with the Croatia national team, going on to earn 84 senior caps.

He was then signed by Bundesliga and European champions Bayern in 2001 - re-uniting with Niko after he'd left Leverkusen for HSV in 1999 - and would spend four years as a mainstay of their defence, winning two domestic doubles in 2003 and 2005. He left after the latter with 144 appearances and a healthy trophy haul to join Juventus. He'd return to the Bundesliga in 2007 with Borussia Dortmund.

Lucio

At Leverkusen: 92 Bundesliga games (2001-2004)

At Bayern: 144 Bundesliga games (2004-2009)

Lucio started his playing career as a forward, and it showed when he made his trans-Atlantic switch from Internacional to join a strong Brazilian contingent at the BayArena in January 2001. He would become a cornerstone of the side, making 122 appearances and notably scoring in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in the notorious 2001/02 season, forming a dependable centre-back duo with fellow Brazilian Juan. Despite that setback, he went on to play every minute for Brazil as they won the World Cup that summer in Japan and South Korea.

And he was another who ended up making a direct switch from North Rhine-Westphalia to Bavaria, joining Bayern in summer 2004 on a six-year deal. "Lucio will be a big character in our new-look team," club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said, and was proved right as the no-nonsense Brasilia-born defender stacked up the silverware over five seasons that saw him play 218 games. Playing alongside the likes of Kovac, Valerien Ismael, Daniel Van Buyten and Martin Demichelis, Lucio won three domestic doubles and frequently stood in as team captain when Oliver Kahn was missing, while his ability to start attacks by striding out of defence wowed Bayern fans as much as his capacity for snuffing out opposition strikers. "Naturally, we're sad he's leaving the club," then Bayern general manager Uli Hoeneß stated when Lucio joined Inter Milan in 2009.

Ze Roberto

At Leverkusen: 113 Bundesliga games (1998-2002)

At Bayern: 169 Bundesliga games (2002-2006, 2007-2009)

Ze Roberto had already had a short spell at Real Madrid and gone back to Brazil before trying to establish himself again in Europe by signing for Leverkusen in 1998. He did exactly that. One of the reasons he left Madrid was his lack of first-team opportunities, something that was never in question with Die Werkself where he missed just two Bundesliga games in his maiden season in Germany. Alongside compatriot Emerson and club legend Jens Nowotny, Ze helped turn the club's midfield into one of the most formidable and complete in European football. Leverkusen finished Bundesliga runners-up in three of his four seasons at the club, and his influence was such that it was no surprise he was eventually snapped up by Bayern after that infamous 2001/02 campaign.

Four domestic doubles from 248 appearances followed for the Brazilian, the last coming in the 2007/08 season - his first since returning to Bayern on a two-year loan from Uruguayan side Nacional, having first left Munich upon the expiration of his contract. When he left Bayern a second time in 2009 to join Hamburg, the northerners could not believe their luck. "He's a technically excellent player and brings unbelievable experience with him," said then HSV boss Bruno Labbadia of the Brazilian capable of playing anywhere down the left or even central midfield

Emre Can

At Bayern: 4 Bundesliga games (2009-2013)

At Leverkusen: 29 Bundesliga games (2013-2014)

Can was born in Frankfurt and spent time in the Eintracht academy before joining Bayern at U17 level in 2009. He moved through the ranks and featured twice in first-team matchday squads in 2011/12, before making seven senior appearances for the club the following season under Heynckes. Even then he was used as a utility player across midfield and defence. His sole Bundesliga goal for the Bavarians was when he got a touch off a Xherdan Shaqiri free-kick against Freiburg at the back end of the season.

The later Germany international was then snapped up by Leverkusen on a four-year deal. He quickly established himself as a first-team regular at the BayArena and played 39 times in all competitions, scoring four goals and again filling in at left-back, centre-back, central midfield and more as Die Werkself finished fourth in the Bundesliga. After one year in Leverkusen, he joined Liverpool before signing for Juventus and, most recently, Dortmund.

Toni Kroos

At Bayern: 130 Bundesliga games (2006-2014)

At Leverkusen: 43 Bundesliga games (2009-2010)

Unquestionably one of the finest midfielders Germany has ever produced, Kroos joined the Bayern academy at 16 from Hansa Rostock in 2006, and was already training with the senior side by the second half of the season. Ottmar Hitzfeld promoted him full time in 2007/08 and Kroos became the youngest person ever to play for Bayern's first team up to that point. After finding playing time limited under Jürgen Klinsmann, the midfielder joined Leverkusen on an 18-month loan midway through 2008/09.

It was in the second season that he really established himself under Jupp Heynckes, even being named Man of the Matchday for three straight games by kicker as Die Werkself went on to finish fourth. Returning to Munich in 2010/11, he was the attacking midfielder under Louis van Gaal before finding himself under the tutelage of Heynckes again and reaching two consecutive UEFA Champions League finals as a key member of the 2013 treble-winning squad. After one more year at Bayern and a domestic double with Pep Guardiola, one of the world's finest passers of the ball joined Real Madrid in 2014.

Arturo Vidal

At Leverkusen: 117 Bundesliga games (2007-2011)

At Bayern: 79 Bundesliga games (2015-2018)

As you'll note, Vidal was the latest in a long line of South American players to take the first step into Europe with Leverkusen and later also star for Bayern. The Chilean arrived in summer 2007 from Colo-Colo - reportedly after director of football Rudi Völler personally made the trip to Santiago to convince him - and would go on to catch further eyes over four successful years at the BayArena, culminating with a runner-up finish in the 2010/11 Bundesliga behind Dortmund.

After that, he joined Juventus and won four straight league titles in Italy before a return to Germany with Bayern in 2015, where he lifted the Bundesliga Meisterschale three times in as many years. The combative midfield all-rounder was a regular during his time at the Allianz Arena and made well over 100 appearances for Bayern all told before his 2018 departure for Barcelona.