The 80s - Bayern's 'Unlucky' European Decade

Chris in SoCal · May 3, 2007

Gregoriak said: ↑

Interestingly, the second penalty by Augenthaler got repeated three times.
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That was some shady sh*t. How many do-overs where there?

Gregoriak · Jul 27, 2007

Gregoriak said: ↑

1981-82: The European Cup

That final was staged in Rotterdam and Bayern’s opponents were English champions Aston Villa. It goes without saying that Bayern were considered the favorites in this game, having two of Europe’s best players in their ranks, Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Aston Villa were a strange side, none of their players really stood out that much, with a lack of star power, their main asset was naturally great teamwork and a solid defense. Still, how this basically average side managed to win the English championship is still a bit of a mystery to me. Funnily, they also managed to fight their way into the European Cup final, which must be rated as a near-wonder. And on their way through Europe, they only conceded two goals in six games! Villa’s strongpoint obviously was the defense, contrary to Bayern, who had a lot of problems with their shaky defense that season, having conceded some 56 goals in the Bundesliga that year. But at the same time, Bayern knew how to score goals (77 in the league and 21 in the European Cup). They had three accomplished goalscorers in their ranks (Dieter Hoeness with 21 league goals, Paul Breitner with 18 and Rummenigge with 14). It has to be said though, that with gifted left-winger Morley and center forward Peter Withe, Villa had a dangerous pairing up front. Both teams were not involved in the title race of their domestic leagues that season, Bayern had however managed to win the German Cup two weeks earlier.

With a slow, calm built-up from the back, Bayern started pretty passively, allowing Villa to go attack more than expected. The first 30 minutes Villa were the more active side but then Bayern started to tighten the strings and created a number of decent to excellent chances before half-time. The highlight being a magnificent overhead kick by Rummenigge minutes before the break that just missed the goal. Bayern could have been up by one or two goals at that moment, but everyone in the Bayern camp was confident that they would score in the second half. But they didn’t. Totally against the run of play, Villa scored right at the moment when everyone expected Bayern to finally convert one of their many opportunities. Morley had broken through at the left wing in a counter attack, passing the ball to Peter Withe lurking at the goalmouth. Withe only had to kick the ball opportunistically into the Bayern net. Bayern continued to attack throughout the rest of the game but didn’t create as many chances as they had previously. Villa proved to be quite dangerous on counter attacks and almost scored a second goal in the dying minutes of the game. Just before that Dieter Hoeness had scored the equalizer, but the goal wasn’t given due to alleged off-side. It was a very close decision.
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Here you can see some highlights of that game. The biggest highlight of course being Rummenigge's magnificent overhead kick effort. If he had scored with that one, it would probably be rated as the most sensational goal ever scored in a European Cup final. Too bad he just missed the goal.

I will compile a second part featuring most of the highlights of the second half later.

[youtube]Zh1rk14Ie6E[/youtube]

Gregoriak · Jul 28, 2007

And part two.

[youtube]kD0CkQ_F9sE[/youtube]

dor02 · Aug 16, 2007

Another top thread Gregoriak!

The 80s was unlucky for Bayern, especially in the later half. In 1987, the Bayern squad probably thought they had the win, especially after knocking out Real Madrid but Porto did what Steaua did the year before and PSV the year after. Pull off a shock in the Final.

I wonder what the report would be like for the Napoli-Bayern matches in 1989.

Gregoriak · Aug 20, 2007

dor02 said: ↑

Another top thread Gregoriak!

The 80s was unlucky for Bayern, especially in the later half. In 1987, the Bayern squad probably thought they had the win, especially after knocking out Real Madrid but Porto did what Steaua did the year before and PSV the year after. Pull off a shock in the Final.

I wonder what the report would be like for the Napoli-Bayern matches in 1989.
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I'm kinda stuck in 1985 - I only have one game from the 1985-86 season (the 3-3 at Austria Vienna) but more importantly, I lack newspaper coverage for that season, that's why I'm not getting on with this thread. I started to collect newspaper clips in early-1987 and for the years prior to that I used the collection of newspaper reports assembled in the "So Ein Tag" book series (which covers 1965 to 1985). Thus I have everything well-covered except the 1985-86 season! But I will continue with this thread once I have more time to dedicate to researching more for the 1985-86 season.