The 111 All-Time Greatest Bundesliga Games

pfg68 · Nov 26, 2007

squidward123 said: ↑

hmmm, yeah could be, because he was pretty young wasn't he at wc74 unlike the other retirees
Click to expand...

From memory Juergen Grabowski turned 30 on the day of the 1974 World Cup final (a good way to celebrate!) so I think he's older than Gerd Mueller but younger than Wolfang Overath.

Gregoriak · Dec 7, 2008

I have uploaded the highlights of the following game to YouTube:

[youtube]B_qf_a0l_w0[/youtube]

Gregoriak said: ↑

Rank #43

1. FC Saarbrücken 6
Bayern München 1

Place: Saarbrücken, Saarstadion
Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Date: 16 April 1977
Attendance: 39,000
Referee: Ahlenfelder (Oberhausen)

Goal Scorers:
1-0 Stegmayer 21
2-0 Stegmayer 40
3-0 Stegmayer 60
3-1 Müller 70
4-1 Stegmayer 75
5-1 Denz 80
6-1 Schuster 88

Commentary:
Of all the thrashings the great, all-conquering Bayern side of the 1970s had to endure, this one must rate among the most sensational ones. Tiny Saarbrücken had earned promotion in 1975-76 but found itself struggling in topflight most of the season. When they met Bayern, they were clearly on the way up, having beat three top teams in Hamburg (who had beat Bayern 5-0 a fortnight before), FC Schalke 04 and Cologne. But nothing could rival this stomping over the three time European Cup winners, arguably the finest and most well-remembered 90 minutes in the history of the club. Bayern were not exactly in great spirits in the spring of 1977, having only won three of the last ten games. At least Gerd Müller was back after a three-month break due to his damaged disc operation.

Nobody in the Bayern camp had calculated with Saarbrücken playing this dynamically and energetically and this was paired with Bayern having one of their off-days. Every Saarbrücken player was superior to his direct opponent. Bayern manager Dettmar Cramer had originally planned to at least take one point off the hosts, his tactical gameplan on paper was based on a solid defensive performance, leaving out third forward Rainer Künkel and adding a defensive midfielder in Josef Weiß instead. The impact on Bayern’s defense was not measurable. The offense was weakened while the defense wasn’t particularly strengthened. The irony was that Bayern already had sold Josef Weiß at the beginning of the season to Saarbrücken, but then reconsidered the deal and bought him back. Saarbrücken were glad they sold Weiß again, as his performance in this game wasn’t too impressive. Another reason why Bayern went down like that was that Sepp Maier suffered a concussion in the 35th minute after center forward Harry Ellbracht’s shot had hit Maier directly in the face. Maier got knocked out and had to be treated for some minutes, but instead of bringing on substitute keeper Hubertus Licht, Cramer let Maier stay in the goal. After 21 minutes, left winger Roland Stegmayer scored his first goal. Yugoslavian technician Yovan Acimovic hit the seventh corner for Saarbrücken, Ludwig Denz touched the ball with his head on to Stegmayer, who scored with a massive bicycle kick: 1-0! A tremendous effort! Five minutes before the break, Acimovic played a masterful through ball into the Bayern box directly into the path of Stegmayer, who scored with hard shot: 2-0!

At half-time Saarbrücken saw themselves rewarded with a highly deserved 2-0 lead after having attacked the Bayern goal almost non-stop, totally overrunning the guests. Bayern manager Cramer on the other hand ordered his players to commit themselves to attacking without regard to conceding further goals, his plan was to scare the home side with relentless forechecking. The motto was "draw or fall!" This risky manoeuvre was clinched in a hotly contested scene after one hour: The linesman had decided to give a throw to Bayern at the midline, but the referee overruled his linesman and gave the throw to Saarbrücken. Bernd Förster exploited the confusion with a quick throw to Ludwig Schuster who in turn passed the ball quickly to the unmarked Stegmayer, who had no problems putting the ball past the hapless Maier: 3-0! New hope for Bayern after Franz Roth received a ball from Beckenbauer inside the Saarbrücken box, who instantly touched the ball on to the unmarked Müller who scored a typical goal by straddling the ball past goalie Dieter Ferner: 3-1! Naively, Bayern thought now the time for striking back had finally come and they gave their all to score the two needed goals in the remaining 20 minutes, Cramer subbed in Künkel, but naturally they left their defense vulnerable for counter attacks and it took Saarbrücken only five minutes after Müller’s goal to exploit the situation. Acimovic played another one of his precise passes straightly to Roland Stegmayer at the left wing. Stegmayer again left Björn Andersson behind him and then put the ball past Sepp Maier with a low shot into the far post: 4-1!

This was the decision, but Bayern still kept on attacking, even Beckenbauer wasn’t staying back. Ten minutes before the end, Beckenbauer’s pass back to Roth was too strong, 'Bulle' couldn’t control the ball, it bounced to Acimovic who perfectly set up Ludwig Denz: 5-1! In the 83rd minute, Rummenigge scored Bayern’s second goal but the referee disallowed it as Rummenigge had allegedly fouled keeper Ferner. During the last ten minutes, Sepp Maier, despite his handicap saved Bayern from an even more drastic rout, after having saved shots by Schuster and Stegmayer. Yet 120 seconds before time, Ludwig Schuster outsmarted Maier and three other Bayern players after Ellbracht’s assist and then proceeded to tap the ball over the goalline of the abandoned Bayern goal: 6-1! This startling goal rivalled Stegmayer’s bicycle kick from the first as greatest goal of the game. Saarbrücken had surprised everyone with their remarkable stamina and ball control. The only Bayern players at the same level were Beckenbauer and Müller, but they couldn’t turn events around all by themselves. Also, Schwarzenbeck did play fairly well against Ellbracht. Bayern’s weak spot was clearly their right side, where Stegmayer totally outplayed right back Andersson. On the left side, Gruber couldn’t come to terms with Schuster while in midfield, Weiß was incapable of containing Ludwig Denz, who was everywhere and nowhere, and Erhan Önal was incapable of handling the amazing playmaker and super technician Acimovic. Up front, Rummenigge almost never could get past his uncompromising marker Nikolaus Semlitsch, while the two-fisted Reinhold Zech and the experienced Egon Schmitt both committed their attention to Gerd 'Bomber' Müller. Kapellmann was a non-factor versus the very attentive fighter Heinz Traser in midfield. That Saarbrücken were tremendous fighters was no surprise, what surprised was that they outclassed Bayern also in terms of creativity on the ball. With a strong finish, Saarbrücken managed to avoid relegation that season, but nothing could help them the next year, when Bayern gained sweet revenge by beating them 7-1 in the Olympic stadium.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. FC Saarbrücken

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ferner

---------------------------------------------------------------Semlitsch-----E.Schmitt---Zech----B.Förster

----------------------------------------------------------------------H.Traser------Denz----Acimovic

--------------------------------------------------------------------L.Schuster----Ellbracht-----Stegmayer

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Manager: Manfred Krafft

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bayern München

------------------------------------------------------------------------K.H.Rummenigge------G.Müller

-------------------------------------------------------------------Kapellmann-----------------------Önal
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Roth-------J.Weiß

-------------------------------------------------------------P.Gruber--Schwarzenbeck--Beckenbauer--Andersson

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Maier

----------------------------------------------------------------------------Manager: Dettmar Cramer

----------------------------------------------------------------------------Subs:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------56 Torstensson in, Önal out
----------------------------------------------------------------------------65 Künkel in, Gruber out
----------------------------------------------------------------------------87 Bender in, Förster out

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dor02 · Dec 8, 2008

Great idea to revive this! Interesting to see that Bayern played with a 4-4-2 in that game. You would think that they played a 4-3-3 like most team in that era.

There was an article talking about the 3-5-2 formation and they even mention how German teams used it. It reminded me of this thread and how the West German teams of the 80s used it a lot.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/nov/19/argentina-napoli

Thoughts?

Borussia · Dec 8, 2008

Yep, the 3:5:2 is definitely dying.

Gregoriak · Dec 12, 2008

I have prepared the highlights for the following game:

[youtube]FrgfZzNHo_Y[/youtube]

Gregoriak said: ↑

Rank #4

Bayern Munich 4
Borussia Mönchengladbach 3

Place: Munich, Olympiastadion
Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m..
Date: 8 December 1973
Attendance: 70,000
Referee: Engel (Reimsbach)
Goal Scorers:
1-0 Roth 4
1-1 Wimmer 5
1-2 Jensen 18
2-2 Müller 20
3-2 Zobel 23
4-2 Hoeness 64
4-3 Bonhof 88

Commentary:
"Once upon a time ... people will say in later years. It was like in a fairy: Football can’t be played any finer than this." This is how one newspaper started its report on this fabled meeting between the German champions Bayern Munich and the German Cup winners Borussia Mönchengladbach. After referee Engel whistled this game off, the 70,000 spectators had seen one of the finest displays of attacking football ever staged in Munich’s Olympic stadium, a game that managed to exceed all the high expectations of the crowd and the media, an electrifying festival of everything that makes football such a great joy to watch. Gripping duels, lots of goals, plenty of goal scoring opportunities, the whole bag of football tricks, Beckenbauer’s finesse, Wimmer’s verve and crosses, the mesmerizing duel between Europe’s best goalgetter Gerd Müller and Europe’s best defender Berti Vogts, a thrilling exchange of blows between both sides executed at the highest pace - the viewers were overwhelmingly gifted for their presence! Legendary 1954 World Cup winning coach Sepp Herberger was too overwhelmed to properly analyze what had happened, a simple "Magnificent! Simply wonderful!" was all he was able to say after the game when asked by the media. Similarly overwhelmed was then Germany manager Helmut Schön, whose "What a game!" comment further illustrated the first class quality of this top game. Schön continued: "We can be proud of the Bundesliga. This was a tremendous advertising for all of football. We can be glad that we have two such sides who are a motivating all other sides to play the same way."

Breathtaking already the beginning with five goals in the first 23 minutes! Gerd Müller addressed a through ball from the center circle towards Franz Roth at the left wing. The powerful 'Bulle' rushed forward, beating off Gladbach’s right back Herbert Wimmer and then sweeper Klaus-Dieter Sieloff with two feints, and then Roth hammered the ball from a difficult angle past Wolfgang Kleff into the far post of Borussia’s goal: 1-0! A brilliant start to a brilliant game! But Borussia’s answer followed only 60 seconds later. Jupp Heynckes hit a through ball to overlapping full back Herbert Wimmer on the right wing, Bernd Dürnberger deflected the ball in a misfortunate way so that he served the ball straight into Wimmer’s path. The Gladbach right back got past Sepp Maier who had come rushing out of his goal area, only left back Paul Breitner stood between Wimmer and the Bayern goal but Wimmer placed his shot so well that Breitner, standing on the goalline, could not intervene in any way: 1-1! After this great start the players seemed to have tasted blood as the game got even better in the following minutes. Despite the pace being so high, the players of both sides understood how to thread together flawless combinations with remarkable precision, almost no bad passes. Forwards became defenders and defenders became forwards, constant switching of positions and the fight for supremacy in the midfield was not a strong-man act but fought out by means of finesse of play and tactical sophistication. After 18 minutes, the guests from Gladbach were one up! And what a goal it was. The Kicker reported expressed his admiration with the following words: "The 1-2 will forever be remembered as a goal that knocked one of the seats due to its beauty in built-up and execution!" People watched in awe while Borussia had threaded together a fluid combination over ten stops, then Wimmer got the ball on the right wing after he had engaged in a 1-2 with Horst Köppel, Wimmer sent in a cross to Bernd Rupp at center forward position who passed the ball directly with his back to goal to the penalty spot where Dane Henning Jensen had rushed on coming from behind, hammering the ball vehemently into the back of the Bayern net: 1-2! A goal so beautiful, exquisite and stunning that even the staunchest non-football person had to get excited watching it. Almost every Borussia player had taken part in the built up and it was thus truly a team effort. Bayern may have been impressed (in fact, they surely were impressed) but it seemed as if this demonstration of high quality football by their guests only further motivated them to impress with their own efforts. Franz Beckenbauer in particular drove his teammates forward towards Mönchengladbach’s goal. At the end, Beckenbauer was the key to Bayern’s success, as for all their brilliance, Borussia did not have a player equal to Beckenbauer in their ranks. Within three minutes, the Kaiser’s empire had struck back with a vengeance! 120 seconds had passed after Mönchengladbach’s 'dream goal', when a diagonal cross by Erwin Hadewicz from the right flank found Gerd Müller at the center of the Gladbach penalty box, the Bomber beat off the incredibly tight marking Berti Vogts and scored with a left footed strike: 2-2! Three minutes after that Bernd Dürnberger addressed a long cross from the right flank to the left wing, Hoeness stopped the ball on the touchline and immediately swung in a cross from there, Rainer Zobel jumped up the highest and curled his back header so well that it found the way between Kleff and the crossbar: 3-2! Kleff – Germany’s number one goalkeeper at that time – had not looked too well in that scene, but so had Maier at one of Gladbach’s goals. Kleff had however shown a fantastic parade in the 14th minute when Beckenbauer had unleashed a terrifically hard and well-placed shot from 30 yards. Nobody would have complained if Kleff had not managed to parry this 'unstoppable' bombshell. The action on the pitch surged from goal to goal, all players dedicated to the pure and simple cause why they had become footballers in the first place: Because they wanted to score goals! Gerd Müller was seen defending in his own box (almost scoring an own goal at that). Herbert Wimmer terrified Bayern’s defense with his constant solos at both flanks, no player could afford to rest or to remain at his position, the breathtakingly fast action forced every player to give his all, all players being spurred by the shining examples of the Breitners, Wimmers, Beckenbauers, Müllers, Bonhofs, Roths and Jensens.

Next to Beckenbauer’s unique class, Gerd Müller’s will to cover virtually every area on the pitch caused some difficulties to Borussia. Berti Vogts had great problems following Müller effectively, one could say he was still practising, as he would excel in a similar job on Johan Cruijff in the World Cup final seven months later. At the time Vogts struggled to contain Müller, Franz Roth slowly but surely started to have the advantage in his duel with Gladbach’s right back Herbert Wimmer. This coupled with Beckenbauer’s commanding presence on the pitch was the foundation of Bayern remaining victorious in the epic encounter. Beckenbauer, the attacking libero, had once again impressed with a world class performance. It was Beckenbauer who had set up the all-decisive fourth Bayern goal shortly after an hour was played. The Kaiser had started one of his amazing solos from his own box straight to the Gladbach box, on the way elegantly rounding several Gladbach players as if it was the most natural thing to do. After having arrived at the edge of the Gladbach box, three panic-stricken Gladbach defenders launched into Beckenbauer, but Beckenbauer, sly as a fox, had of course anticipated the situation and flicked the ball with effortless ease over the Borussia players into the now free space to Uli Hoeness. Rainer Bonhof tried to tackle the ball off Hoeness but too late! The future Bayern managing director had already shot the ball towards Kleff’s goal. Kleff managed to get his hand on the ball in a desperate jump, but the shot was too hard for him to save and found its way into the back of the Gladbach net: 4-2! With his goal, Uli Hoeness decided his duel with Gladbach’s great Rainer Bonhof in his favor as Hoeness had already assisted Bayern’s third goal. Roth, Müller and Hoeness all winning their personal duels against their direct opponents was the foundation of Bayern wrestling down their fantastic opponents. After Bayern’s was up 4-2, it looked for a while as if Gladbach was in danger of conceding further goals. Gladbach had run out of power for they had tried to score the 3-3 with all their might in the second half. Hoeness’ goal came as a real blow to the guests from the Rhineland. Bayern now fully dictated the play with Breitner attacking on the left wing, running up and down his side, overlapping with the self-confident Bernd Dürnberger. Bayern gained about half a dozen further scoring opportunities however Gladbach’s resistance was still firm. After 72 minutes, Jupp Heynckes had an almost 100 percent safe scoring opportunity when he got to head from short distance unmarked but Sepp Maier saved his header with a brilliant reflex. Three minutes later Henning Jensen just missed the goal with his shot. Two minutes before time, Herbert Wimmer, defying all exhaustion, started his umpteenth solo on the wings, leaving the ball to Bonhof who had run parallel to him, Bonhof surprised the unexpecting Maier from 25 yards with a spin shot: 4-3! This goal was considered by all as a well-deserved one for the magnificent guests.

But why did Gladbach lose this game when they were such a tremendous side? Firstly, Udo Lattek crossed Hennes Weisweiler’s tactical manoeuvre of surprise with Herbert Wimmer starting as right back, as Weisweiler didn’t expect defensive midfielder 'Bulle' Roth to be Bayern’s outside left. Weisweiler wanted to exploit Bayern’s traditional weakness at the flanks but the powerful and strong Roth was more than a match for Wimmer. Secondly, of the two leading Bundesliga goal scorers, Gerd Müller was on target while Jupp Heynckes failed to score. Thirdly, Paul Breitner had a fantastic comeback after his seven weak pause due to an injury. Fittingly Breitner’s opponent was Gladbach’s strongest forward, the Dane Henning Jensen. Without Breitner confronting him, Jensen may well have been more devastating. Fourthly, Johnny Hansen and Georg Schwarzenbeck controlled their opponents Jupp Heynckes and Bernd Rupp very well. Bayern was overall more agile and determined while Gladbach lacked a conductor of Beckenbauer’s calibre. Horst Köppel could not dictate his side’s play like the dominating Beckenbauer did for Bayern, especially since Köppel had to fight off one of Bayern’s best in Rainer Zobel. This was one of the greatest games ever seen in a German stadium but it was still not the best encounter between these two sides ...

----------------------------------------Bayern Munich

-----------------------------------------------Maier

--------------------Hansen----Beckenbauer---Schwarzenbeck---Breitner

--------------------------U.Hoeness-------Zobel--------Dürnberger

----------------------------Hadewicz-----G.Müller------Roth

-------------------------------------Manager: Udo Lattek

--------------------------------Borussia Mönchengladbach

----------------------------Heynckes--------Rupp--------H.Jensen

-------------------------------Bonhof--------Köppel--------Kulik

------------------------Danner--------Vogts--------Sieloff------Wimmer

------------------------------------------------Kleff

----------------------------------Manager: Hennes Weisweiler

----------------------------------Subs:
----------------------------------none
Click to expand...

hackespitze123 · Dec 12, 2008

Gregoriak said: ↑

Very pleased to hear this. Germany’s failure to create similar talent to the past is probably due to kids not being allowed to play in the streets anymore, wherever and whenever they want to. Of course the traffic has increased since the 1940s and 1950s, but kids are rarely allowed to use a public lawn to play, everywhere are the signs “Fussballspielen verboten”. The great stars of the 1960s and 1970s, who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s didn’t know such restrictions and they played football every day after school for hours. There were no other activities, going to the cinemas was far too expensive, no television, no computer games, no internet. Today’s kids can do so much else, they don’t have to kick the ball in every available free minute like in the old days. Basic technical skills do suffer from that. You don’t get to see a player like Overath or Beckenbauer, who could treat the ball with effortless ease, who had an emotional relationship with the ball! When they had the ball at their feet, it was an art form. Today’s players are certainly better trained in complex and sophisticated tactical systems, but they don’t have the same ball skills.
Click to expand...

It's coming back. As cynical as it may sound, but since ~20% of the children in Germany live in poverty these days (official numbers), the so called "Straßenfußballer" is having a renaissance. And then there is the considerably better education of young talents after the reforms in the last few years, with a much higher emphasis on technique. The new generation of players coming through actually does remind me of the 'golden generation' of the 70s when it comes to technique and football skills in general.

But not when it comes to personality and 'presence' on the pitch (not just in Germany though), as Sammer rightly pointed out. He hopefully will be successful in implemeting his ideas to change this.

deleted · Dec 12, 2008

hackespitze123 said: ↑

But not when it comes to personality and 'presence' on the pitch (not just in Germany though), as Sammer rightly pointed out. He hopefully will be successful in implemeting his ideas to change this.
Click to expand...

what did he mean by personality and presence? Its the whole media training and all that crap isnt it

btw, rep to G for the last highlights

Gregoriak · Dec 12, 2008

dor02 said: ↑

Great idea to revive this! Interesting to see that Bayern played with a 4-4-2 in that game. You would think that they played a 4-3-3 like most team in that era.

There was an article talking about the 3-5-2 formation and they even mention how German teams used it. It reminded me of this thread and how the West German teams of the 80s used it a lot.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/nov/19/argentina-napoli

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

A very interesting article. I think the origin of the 3-5-2 cannot really be traced back to Bilardo's Argentina. The basic element, the shift from 4 defenders (2 full backs, 2 central defenders or 1 sweeper and a stopper) in the 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 to three defenders (1 sweeper, 2 markers) in the 3-5-2 took place in club football before Bilardo took over Argentina in 1984.

Only speaking for Germany, Hamburg's Ernst Happel started to move the two full backs Manfred Kaltz and Bernd Wehmeyer into midfield positions in the 1981-82 season (not in all games, but in some, especially at home).

So Hamburg often lined-up like this:

--Bastrup--Hrubesch--Milewski

--------Magath----Hartwig
Wehmeyer---------------Kaltz

-------Groh--------Jakobs
----------Hieronymus

-------------Stein

Not a true 3-5-2 but the important shift in defense was already practised.

In 1983-84, VfB Stuttgart applied the same defensive system with a sweeper and two markers as three-man defense and a five-man or four-man midfield.

And already in 1973, Bayern Munich - at least in home games - did use Paul Breitner (nominal full back) as a midfield player, with right back Johnny Hansen and stopper Katsche Schwarzenbeck as primary markers and Beckenbauer as a quasi-midfield playmaker (playing some kind of 2-5-3).

hackespitze123 · Dec 12, 2008

squidward123 said: ↑

what did he mean by personality and presence? Its the whole media training and all that crap isnt it
Click to expand...

No, that's not it. It's about teaching young players to take responsibility, to 'strenghten' them mentally so they can prevail in crucial high pressure situations, to learn to lead etc. - the so called 'winner mentality'.
The DFB introduced team councils on the U16 level and higher, for example, just like in the senior team. It's about forming chracters, leaders, and learning to cope with team structures and so on.

Sammer interview (German):

http://www.spox.com/de/sport/fussball/0807/Artikel/sammer-u19-zukunft.html

deleted · Dec 12, 2008

ah, i see what you mean

i guess you're right, although they showed admirable amounts of those qualities at the euro but not at the WC as much

unclesox · Dec 13, 2008

So Gregoriak, would the recent Bayern 2:1 Hoffenheim match had a place in this thread?
Whereabouts, top 50, top 40...?

dor02 · Dec 13, 2008

Gregoriak said: ↑

A very interesting article. I think the origin of the 3-5-2 cannot really be traced back to Bilardo's Argentina. The basic element, the shift from 4 defenders (2 full backs, 2 central defenders or 1 sweeper and a stopper) in the 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 to three defenders (1 sweeper, 2 markers) in the 3-5-2 took place in club football before Bilardo took over Argentina in 1984.

Only speaking for Germany, Hamburg's Ernst Happel started to move the two full backs Manfred Kaltz and Bernd Wehmeyer into midfield positions in the 1981-82 season (not in all games, but in some, especially at home).

So Hamburg often lined-up like this:

--Bastrup--Hrubesch--Milewski

--------Magath----Hartwig
Wehmeyer---------------Kaltz

-------Groh--------Jakobs
----------Hieronymus

-------------Stein

Not a true 3-5-2 but the important shift in defense was already practised.

In 1983-84, VfB Stuttgart applied the same defensive system with a sweeper and two markers as three-man defense and a five-man or four-man midfield.

And already in 1973, Bayern Munich - at least in home games - did use Paul Breitner (nominal full back) as a midfield player, with right back Johnny Hansen and stopper Katsche Schwarzenbeck as primary markers and Beckenbauer as a quasi-midfield playmaker (playing some kind of 2-5-3).
Click to expand...

Sounds like a 3-4-3 really but you've made a valid point on the defensive structure. I'm still not sure about the two forwards though. Valdano and Maradona were the two forwards in Argentina's 1986 World cup team but I'm sure you would notice some German teams playing with that defensive structure, five midfielders and only two forwards.

Gregoriak · Dec 13, 2008

Next one:

[youtube]gwBPzyFX8WY[/youtube]

Gregoriak said: ↑

Rank #18

1. FC Nürnberg 7
Bayern München 3

Place: Nuremberg, Frankenstadion
Time: Saturday, 4:00 p.m.
Date: 2 December 1967
Attendance: 65,000
Referee: Malka (Herten)

Goal Scorers:
1-0 Strehl 26
2-0 Volkert 27
3-0 Brungs 37
4-0 Brungs 51
5-0 Brungs 57
6-0 Brungs 62
6-1 Müller 72
7-1 Brungs 74
7-2 Brenninger 77
7-3 Brenninger 89

Commentary:
When Austrian Max Merkel took over command at Nuremberg in December 1966, the club with the great history had plunged to rank 14 in the league only two points above relegation. Merkel again proved to be the great motivator among Bundesliga coaches as he knew that Nuremberg was a very talented side that most of all needed to get the self-doubts out of their minds. It proved to be a difficult task but at the end of the 1966-67 season Merkel had managed to navigate Nuremberg into no man's land at rank 10. For the new season, the troubled squad remained the same only Yugoslavian outside right Zvezdan Cebinac and Austrian linkman August 'Gustl' Starek were added, but they proved to be very instrumental additions. Some weeks into the new season, one could have got the impression that Nuremberg were a completely different team but the players will in fact still the same! Merkel had done wonders. This Nuremberg side occupied the top rank in the Bundesliga from the third round on and stayed there for the rest of the season. At times the second ranked side was trailing them by eight points, which was a massive lead in the two-points-for-a-win-era! Thus already early on in the season, there was almost no question that Nuremberg would run away with the title, provided they didn't break down at some point in the second half of the season. The one point where Merkel's boys really proved what stuff they were made of came in December 1967, when they hosted their closest pursuers, Bavarian rivals Bayern Munich. Bayern was trailing Nuremberg by three points and thus they at least had to draw to keep their chances alive. A defeat had to be avoided at all costs. Little did they know that they had to endure the most embarrassing 'waterloo' in their yet short Bundesliga history!

When the referee blew the final whistle, Bayern were glad that it 'only' were seven goals they had to concede, as it could easily have been a couple more. The way Nuremberg had steamrolled them was simply bizarre. As if professionals had met amateurs, so total was Nuremberg's domination. A complete disaster for the ambitious side from Munich. That Bayern managed to score three goals was only due to Nuremberg having become inattentive after all the bliss of the first hour. To Bayern's international players, this debacle was especially bitter, as German national team manager Helmut Schön was among the spectators. During the first 25 minutes, Bayern had still vague hopes that they could somehow resist the raging home side, although probably none of them expected anything else than a defeat the way Nuremberg played on that foggy December afternoon. Bayern had been handicapped as Sepp Maier suffered a knee injury after eight minutes after a confrontation with Heinz Strehl. After a cross by Franz Brungs, the Nuremberg skipper had almost scored the 1-0 if not for Maier's spectacular yet dangerous save. After the game journalists asked Bayern manager Zlatko 'Tschik' Cajkovski why he didn’t substitute Maier to which Cajkovski replied that regardless of who was in goal, Maier or (reserve keeper) Fritz Kosar, nothing could have stopped this debacle. In midfield, Dieter Koulmann was incapable of making Bayern's play and found himself having to chase Nuremberg's playmaker Gustl Starek instead while Franz 'Bulle' Roth didn’t gain any ground against Heinz Strehl. And in defense, Bayern's skipper Werner Olk was simply incapable of containing Nuremberg's dangerman Franz Brungs while Cajkovski's plan to move Schwarzenbeck from left back to right back to mark Nuremberg's tricky outside left Georg 'Schorsch' Volkert and moving right back Peter Kupferschmidt to the left to take care of Zvezdan 'Zik Zak' Cebinac was not met with any success. To the contrary, the two Nuremberg wingers beat the Bayern full backs at will. Bitter for Bayern was that Cebinac had already participated in a training session before the season but then preferred to sign for Nuremberg.

Bayern's defense was already in a mess before Nuremberg scored their first goal. Franz Beckenbauer was not in a position to established order in the turmoil that surrounded him the way Nuremberg's sweeper Ferdinand Wenauer did on the other side. Cajkovski however was not willing to rearrange his gameplan. Goalgetter Gerd Müller had been moved back to operate in the midfield but the only effect was that his marker Ludwig 'Luggi' Müller was given the opportunity to move forward into the midfield where he excelled as a driving motor behind most of Nuremberg's actions. Bayern's center forward in that game, Rainer 'Oki' Ohlhauser, moved a lot up front but whatever he did he couldn't escape Karl-Heinz Ferschl, while Dieter 'Mucki' Brenninger had a hard time dealing with Horst Leupold. Brenninger actually had to follow Leupold, as Nuremberg's right back acted very offensively on the right side. Rudolf Nafziger had a better game on the right wing, but he also found it difficult to get past Fritz Popp, but at least he sometimes managed that. But Nafziger wasted the big chance to score a goal while Nuremberg was only up 2-0. Brenninger, Ohlhauser and Müller had combined well and suddenly Nafziger found himself standing alone in front of Roland Wabra, but he shot over the top! It is however doubtful that a Bayern goal at that point would have stopped Nuremberg from overrunning their guests.

After 27 minutes, Cebinac played a through ball towards left back Horst Leupold and his cross was converted by Heinz Strehl with a formidable volley: 1-0! A minute after that, right back Fritz Popp had crossed from the left (!) flank but center forward Fritz Brungs couldn’t head the ball properly but the deflected leather was then volleyed into Maier’s goal by outside left Volker: 2-0! Ten minutes later, Volkert got the ball after a splendid one-touch combination between Starek, Brungs and Strehl. Maier couldn’t hold on to the ball after Volkert’s shot, Kupferschmidt and Beckenbauer didn’t react – Franz Brungs was quickly tapping the ball over the line: 3-0! A highly deserved lead by Nuremberg at half-time. It was particularly telling that two of the three goals were set up by the two full backs storming forward, proving how modern and tactically astute Nuremberg’s game was. Bayern only had four goal scoring opportunities during the first half, the one by Nafziger, a shot by Müller way over the top from a good position after 13 minutes, as well as two shots by Brenninger and Roth which Wabra parried.

Nuremberg’s third goal had broken Bayern’s neck, that became apparent during the first 20 minutes of the second half. 20 minutes that made the Nuremberg crowd stagger for joy, as they were witnessing the best their club ever produced on a football pitch since the glorious 1920s. Nuremberg started the second half just as strong as they had finished the first one. They continued their aggressive forechecking, leaving Bayern’s forwards and midfielders almost no space and Bayern’s defenders were continually hunted from one place to the other. It was remarkable to see the great workload of 30-year-old players like Strehl and Brungs, the long distances they ran, their great physical and creative contribution to this rout. Nuremberg was unstoppable, threading great one-touch combinations over five or six stops without a Bayern player getting a chance to gain possession. Seven minutes into the second half, a well-measured cross by Cebinac from the right flank reached Franz Brungs at the penalty spot, who bent the ball over Maier into the Bayern goal: 4-0! Five minutes later, Gustl Starek started a fantastic solo, leaving five Bayern players behind him but instead of attempting to crown his great effort with a goal, he unegoistically passed to Brungs who had no difficulties scoring his third goal: 5-0! Bayern are now completely taken apart, another five minutes pass and Brungs struck again. He tamed a hard cross by Cebinac by heading it into his own path, quickly following the ball he struck with a massive shot: 6-0! All of Nuremberg at this moment is in a state of ecstasy, which explained how Bayern could score their first goal. Brenninger on the left wing is not being attacked, he crossed to Müller in the middle, who headed the ball on the ground and from there it jumped up over Wabra into the Nuremberg goal: 6-1. But Nuremberg made sure that there was no doubt which side would remain triumphant that day. Only 120 seconds later, Volkert beat off Schwarzenbeck and passed over to Cebinac who again addressed one of his dangerous crosses to Brungs at center forward position, who scored the goal of the day: Totally unmarked by anybody, Brungs scored his fifth with a spectacular bicycle kick: 7-1! An amazing way to round off his greatest day on a football pitch since he had scored a hattrick against European Cup winners Benfica for Dortmund back in 1963. Franz Brungs had always been a dangerous marksman but he was never as good as in this season. At the end he had scored some 25 goals in 34 games!

During the next three minutes, Nuremberg could have scored three additional goals, but twice Sepp Maier saved in great fashion and once Strehl missed the empty goal (all between the 74th and 76th minute). With a bit of luck, the score could have been 9-1 or 10-1 at that stage! But Nuremberg simply had to slow down after that, they had demonstrated football played at a very high pace on a difficult pitch between the 25th and 75th minute and their concentration certainly suffered after being up 7-1. This allowed Brenninger two score Bayern’s second and third goal. In 78th minute Kupferschmidt addressed a through ball to Bayern’s left winger and Roland Wabra in Nuremberg’s goal did not even attempt to dive for Brenninger’s shot: 7-2. The last goal of the game came after Beckenbauer had soloed his way into Nuremberg’s box, while he stumbled and fell to the ground he managed to pass the ball to Brenninger who beat Wabra for a second time (but probably from an off-side position). The drama had ended on a vaguely happy note for Bayern. For the rest of the season, Nuremberg’s occupation of the top spot was hardly ever in danger, they were to cruise to their ninth and (so far) last German championship. It was a great side. However manager Max Merkel did make some crucial mistakes after the celebrations were over. He thought he didn’t need half of the squad anymore and sold most of the most important players in an act of, well, madness. Most notably goalgetter Franz Brungs who joined Hertha BSC and playmaker Gustl Starek who signed for Bayern. Merkel signed a number of promising youngsters instead with whom he had planned to continue to dominate the Bundesliga but that was a daft miscalculation. Players like Erich Beer, Rainer Zobel, Jürgen Rynio, Johnny Hansen, Klaus Zaczyk, Armand Theis and Dieter Nüssing would all become great players in the 1970s, but they were simply too young and inexperienced in 1968. Thus Nuremberg’s 1968 triumphant championship-winning-year will forever be associated with their sensational relegation the next year.

This 7-3 rout of Bayern was probably a bit worrying to Helmut Schön, as three of his most important players, Maier, Beckenbauer and Müller all played pretty poorly. Unsurprisingly, none of them was featured in West Germany’s important Euro Qualification game in Albania a fortnight later. Maier, Beckenbauer and Müller weren’t even making the squad! This would be the last time that a fit Beckenbauer would not be invited to join the national team until he announced his departure towards the NASL in spring 1977. Without the three Bayern stars, Germany only managed a 0-0 draw in Tirana, which eliminated Germany from the 1968 European Championship already before it really began. After the game, Helmut Schön had to stand a lot of criticism, especially his decision to try it without players like Beckenbauer, Müller and also Uwe Seeler was harshly criticised afterwards. But it’s somewhat doubtful that Germany could have done any better with these players, as they were all totally out of form at that time.

-----------------------------------------1. FC Nürnberg

------------------------------------------------Wabra

-------------------------Leupold------Wenauer----Ferschl----Popp

----------------------------------------------L.Müller
--------------------------------------Starek----------Strehl

--------------------------------Cebinac-----Brungs------Volkert

--------------------------------------Manager: Max Merkel

-----------------------------------------Bayern München

-----------------------------Brenninger----Ohlhauser---Nafziger

-------------------------------Koulmann-----G.Müller-----Roth

-------------------------Kupferschmidt----Olk-----Beckenbauer--Schwarzenbeck

------------------------------------------------Maier

------------------------------------Manager: Zlatko Cajkovski
Click to expand...

Gregoriak · Dec 13, 2008

unclesox said: ↑

So Gregoriak, would the recent Bayern 2:1 Hoffenheim match had a place in this thread?
Whereabouts, top 50, top 40...?
Click to expand...

Well, hard to tell. This ranking was not a result of a scientific approach ... gut feeling did play a not unimportant role ... the hype surrounding this Bayern Hoffenheim game is turning me off a bit though. Ask me again in ten years.

deleted · Dec 14, 2008

hey G, gerd mueller played in midfield against nuernberg?

Gregoriak · Dec 14, 2008

squidward123 said: ↑

hey G, gerd mueller played in midfield against nuernberg?
Click to expand...

Goalgetter Gerd Müller had been moved back to operate in the midfield but the only effect was that his marker Ludwig 'Luggi' Müller was given the opportunity to move forward into the midfield where he excelled as a driving motor behind most of Nuremberg's actions. Bayern's center forward in that game, Rainer 'Oki' Ohlhauser, moved a lot up front but whatever he did he couldn't escape Karl-Heinz Ferschl, while Dieter 'Mucki' Brenninger had a hard time dealing with Horst Leupold.

deleted · Dec 14, 2008

any particular reason why gerd mueller was moved into midfield? seems strange to me. what was the original thinking

Gregoriak · Dec 14, 2008

Possibly to surprise the opponents, to get Ludwig Müller out of the center of defense (he was one of Germany's best stoppers of the 1960s), as there was firm man-marking and no zonal marking. Sometimes tactics like that did work quite well in the age of close man-to-man marking but it didn't in this game, as Ludwig Müller was more than capable of not only covering Müller in midfield but also of increasing the pressure on Bayern's goal. Actually it wasn't such a rare move in those days to see Gerd Müller play a bit deeper. Bayern had another player who could act as center forward (Rainer Ohlhauser, like in this game).

deleted · Dec 14, 2008

i see, thanks!

mueller had very underrated ball skills

Gregoriak · Dec 14, 2008

Another one:

[youtube]c_DGTMz-fno[/youtube]

Gregoriak said: ↑

Rank #17

FC Schalke 04 5
Bayern München 5

Place: Gelsenkirchen, Parkstadion
Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Date: 8 September 1973
Attendance: 46,000
Referee: Lutz (Bremen)

Goal Scorers:
1-0 Budde 11
2-0 Budde 12
3-0 E.Kremers 18
3-1 Müller 38
4-1 H.Kremers 41 pen
4-2 Müller 43 pen
5-2 H.Kremers 45 pen
5-3 Müller 51
5-4 Dürnberger 64
5-5 Müller 68

Commentary:
Bayern Munich were joint leaders with Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga table when they travelled to Gelsenkirchen to face FC Schalke 04. Schalke was still haunted by the 1971 Bundesliga scandal, having to play without their best players who were either suspended (Klaus Fischer, Klaus Fichtel, Herbert Lütkebohmert) or playing on loan outside of Germany (Rolf Rüssmann, Reinhard 'Stan' Libuda). And as if that wasn’t enough cause for headaches, Schalke manager Ivica Horvat also had to do without injured standard keeper Norbert Nigbur. Unsurprisingly, Schalke 04 was struggling in the league five weeks into the season being ranked second from the bottom. Of the first five games of the season, Bayern had won four and drawn one, but they didn’t play convincingly despite the good start. Something was wrong but it was hard to spot what went wrong. Bayern did play with a lack of passion and bite, having become fairly complacent as they had won the league with a lead of eleven points the previous season.

Despite Schalke’s bad standing, 46,000 spectators were eagerly awaiting the kick-off. The stadium wasn’t sold as the hosts’ bad start probably led some fans to expect a hammering by the champions and they preferred not to be witnessing that in person. Certainly these Schalke 04 fans later regretted to not have purchased tickets for this game, as they missed one of the all-time most dramatic Bundesliga games! This game featured everything that makes football such an attractive sport: drama, fight, pace, gripping goal scenes and lots of goals. It took the home side eleven minutes to score. Sweeper Helmut Kremers bent in a cross, Paul Breitner was unintentionally obstructing goalkeeper Sepp Maier, the keeper let the ball drop down straight at Rainer Budde's feet: 1-0! Maier’s and Breitner’s slapstick interlude brought a smile to the face of the spectators. 60 seconds later, Schalke struck again. This time Helmut’s brother Erwin crossed the ball from the left, Sepp Maier missed the cross, although Beckenbauer jumped up he also missed it, and again Rainer Budde benefitted from Bayern’s defensive insecurities as he headed the ball into the open goal from inside right: 2-0! A traumatic start for Bayern’s defense, Schalke’s players and supporters couldn’t believe their luck, the super champs from Munich seemed to be totally out of sorts while the Schalke side of the previous games, that struggled in the league, is hardly recognizable, as if new players had been hired overnight. Sepp Maier especially left a bad impression. His manager Udo Lattek later only mildly criticized him: "It wasn’t all Maier’s fault. The whole team was at fault. I would say it was a matter of collective guilt." Schalke didn’t ask who was at fault, they simply couldn’t believe their luck. Their manager Horvat after the game: "It started out like in a dream. Being up 3-0 after 18 minutes, nobody would have dared to even dream that." Yes, 3-0 up after 18 minutes! Erwin Kremers had beat off Johnny Hansen and then proceeded to score a subtle goal with the outside of his foot from 20 yeards, giving the ball great spin: 3-0! Schalke had proved that they could score goals not only after defensive blunders. Bayern wondered what was happening with them. Schalke’s players fought with self-sacrifice, pressured the reckless Bayern crew non-stop at a high pace.

But Bayern was not willing to be put to the sword like that. The teams’ morale was surprisingly unaffected by this turmoil. They realized that they had to fight to take the points off the hosts. Udo Lattek: "We certainly undererstimated Schalke. My players always expects that they can succeed solely by creative means, without much fighting." During the next 20 minutes, Bayern had increased the pressure on the hosts and after a corner by Uli Hoeness, the ball rebounded from the crossbar straight to Gerd Müller, who scored by tapping the ball under goalie Helmut Pabst over the goalline: 3-1! But Schalke are so enthused by their performance, they keep on attacking themselves. These seven minutes before the break must rate as some of the best and most dramatic ever staged in a Bundesliga stadium. Two minutes after Müller’s goal, Katsche Schwarzenbeck fouled Franz Krauthausen (a former Bayern player) in the box, Helmut Kremers converted the penalty: 4-1! All’s well again for the Schalke fans! A 4-1 lead at half-time, who would have thought this would be possible? But the first half’s not over yet, only 120 seconds after the last penalty, referee Lutz again points to the penalty spot: Ulrich van den Berg had brought down Bernd Gersdorff in the Schalke box. Gerd Müller scored his second goal: 4-2! It was a fairly harmless attack by van den Berg and thus a pretty soft penalty. But the first half was still not over yet. If Schalke fans were worrying about Bayern having scored a second goal so short before the break, they were relieved again only 60 seconds later. Jupp Kapellmann had brought down Erwin Kremers at the edge of the box, referee Lutz did not hesitate pointing to the penalty spot yet again! Three penalties within the space of four minutes, a new record, Erwin’s brother Helmut took the penalty and scored his second goal: 5-2! This penalty was as soft a decision as the previous one. At half-time the spectators were congratulating themselves upon having had the luck of witnessing such a bloody brilliant encounter. Schalke fans couldn’t wait for the second half to begin, anticipating a continuation of the festivities. At half-time, Udo Lattek told his players that they should risk everything in order to score the needed goals, even at the risk of conceding a sixth one. The last occasion of Bayern conceding five goals in a Bundesliga game had been on 2 December 1967 when they lost 3-7 at Nuremberg. FC Schalke 04 became only the fifth Bundesliga side to score as many as five goals against Bayern Munich, the others having been Nuremberg (7 in 1967), Cologne (6 in 1965), Dortmund (6 in 1967) and Brunswick (5 in 1967). Skipper Franz Beckenbauer later criticized his teammates: "Nobody had the right attitude against his direct opponent. We were however taken by surprise how forceful Schalke’s attacks were."

What Schalke’s enraged supporters did not expect was that their side was rapidly losing their physical power while Bayern started a real powerplay on the Schalke box. This Bayern side of the second half had more in common with a three-time Bundesliga champion. After the game Bayern had gained 21 corners compared to only five by the hosts. Bayern’s new aggressiveness soon paid off. Franz Beckenbauer moved forward, started a solo, beat off his fellow sweeper Helmut Kremers in front of the Schalke box, his hard shot was deflected by Gerd Müller: 5-3! The ball would have probably hit the goal even without Müller’s interference, but after the game Beckenbauer said: "I don’t mind the goal being given to Gerd. I certainly won’t have a chance winning the goal scorers’ crown anyway, but maybe Gerd will." Bayern were now clearly on the up, they had 40 minutes left to score at least two goals. Schalke erroneously thought they could live off the sensational 5-2 half-time lead. Certainly Bayern were lucky that their opponents were too exhausted to answer the increased pressure not even with some dangerous counter attacks. But Schalke had overpowered themselves in the first half and reserve keeper Pabst didn’t have his best day (similar to Sepp Maier). Pabst appeared insecure and transferred his insecurities to Schalke's defense. One Helmut Kremers alone couldn’t resist the constant pressure and even he had to surrender after a while. Next to Helmut, his brother Erwin was Schalke’s best player, not only clearly winning the duel with Bayern right back Johnny Hansen, but time and again sendig in highly dangerous crosses, scoring one great goal himself as well as assisting two further goals. After the game Ivica Horvat stated: "One can’t play better than Erwin today. He is in superb form." Rarely did Kremers play with such determination and force, frequently moving and changing positions, he was seen on the left and on the right flank, at full back position and at the wings. Schalke’s young and inexperienced side had proved that they were capable of extraordinary performances but also that they lacked the necessary routine to defend such a comfortable lead. In the 64th minute another Bayern corner. The ball sailed towards Müller who lurked at the edge of the goalmouth, but he was not optimally positioned so instead of attempting a shot himself, Müller played the ball out of the box to back Bernd 'Wipf' Dürnberger who scored with a massive shot: 5-4! Bayern were on the best way to catch up on Schalke and the homecrowd was terrified at the prospect of their side wasting the three-goal lead. "What is happening here?" was the question most Schalke supporters probably asked themselves during these minutes. Four minutes after Dürnberger had added Bayern’s fourth goal, Bayern’s sensational comeback had reached a new peak, as Gerd Müller headed the ball into the Schalke goal after a corner by Hoeness: 5-5! An incredible comeback! In the second half, Beckenbauer’s commanding presence on the pitch had an almost intimidating effect on the young Schalke side and Gerd Müller, who finally awoke from his first-half-nightmare, inspired awe and terror in the Schalke box. Once again these two world class players had been Bayern’s saviours.

-------------------------------------------------------FC Schalke 04

-------------------------------------------------------------Pabst

-----------------------------------Sobieray----H.Kremers----van den Berg----Huhse

----------------------------------Krauthausen---Beverungen------Scheer-------Holz

-------------------------------------------------R.Budde----------E.Kremers

----------------------------------------------------Manager: Ivica Horvat

-------------------------------------------------------Bayern Munich

----------------------------------------------------G.Müller-----Gersdorff

------------------------------------U.Hoeness------Zobel----------Roth------Kapellmann

---------------------------------Breitner----Schwarzenbeck----Beckenbauer----Hansen

---------------------------------------------------------------Maier

------------------------------------------------------Manager: Udo Lattek

------------------------------------------------------Subs:
------------------------------------------------------46 Dürnberger in, Gersdorff out
------------------------------------------------------57 Dubski in, Krauthausen out
Click to expand...

Borussia · Dec 14, 2008

Great clips!

Gregoriak · Dec 15, 2008

[youtube]wEQiLGz5e3w[/youtube]

Gregoriak said: ↑

Rank #10

Bayern Munich 5
FC Schalke 04 1

Place: Munich, Olympiastadion
Time: 28 June 1972
Attendance: 80,000
Referee: Horstmann (Niederstemmen)
Goal Scorers:
1-0 Hansen 31
2-0 Breitner 40
2-1 Fischer 56
3-1 Hoffmann 67
4-1 Hoeness 80
5-1 Beckenbauer 89

Commentary:
Eleven days before the 34th and final round of the 1971-72 Bundesliga season was kicked off, West Germany had won the European Championship against the Soviet Union. Seven of the players that had been part of arguably the greatest ever German national side were to be seen on the pitch in the Olympiastadion on this Wednesday night as well. Six in the Bayern side, one in the Schalke side. The mood in the second game ever staged in the Olympiastadion (West Germany had played there first) and the first of 732 Bundesliga games was one of high expectations and general satisfaction. After having been treated with regular depressing updates on the 1971 Bundesliga scandal (in which Schalke played a major part) for the past 12 months, the amazing way the German national team dominated its opponents and the equally amazing way Germany’s best club sides played fresh, thrilling and adventurous football offered a most welcome contrast. Slowly but surely it dawned upon people that there had never been a better time to watch football in Germany, despite the match-fixing scandal. Schalke despite being heavily involved in the scandal had managed their best ever Bundesliga campaign, featuring a team of mostly young, unspent players like goalgetter Klaus Fischer, center back Rolf Rüssmann, the fantastic goalkeeper Norbert Nigbur, full backs Jürgen Sobieray and Helmut Kremers, midfielders Klaus Scheer and Herbert 'Aki' Lütkebohmert and left wing Erwin Kremers. These young players were led by three seasoned veterans: sweeper Klaus 'Tanne' Fichtel at the back, Dutchman Heinz van Haaren in midfield and wizardry right wing Reinhard 'Stan' Libuda in attack. This team had played exceptionally well throughout the season and would probably have won the championship in most other years. Their problem was however that they had to contest with a Bayern side that was reaching a spectacular peak and that featured no less than four players of world class calibre: left back Paul Breitner who at age 20 was already considered to be the prototype of the modern attacking full back, goalkeeper Sepp Maier, skipper Franz Beckenbauer and of course the unrivalled goal scoring machine Gerd Müller who never was more dangerous than in 1972. These four were so good at what they did, that they probably could have led an amateur side to win the professional league. Beckenbauer, Müller, Maier and Breitner were in their own league but their teammates were not shabby either. Most of all young Uli Hoeness, midfield workers Franz Roth and Rainer Zobel, Danish right back Johnny Hansen and center back Georg 'Katsche' Schwarzenbeck. It is testimony to the great quality of the Schalke side that they managed to keep this superb Bayern side at bay from August 1971 to March 1972 and kept on hunting them closely once Bayern captured the top spot in March 1972. It is remarkable that Schalke before the last game of the season was still only trailing Bayern Munich by one point and thus was still able to overtake them with a win at Munich. Schalke had to cope with the psychological pressure of their (at that time only alleged) involvement in the 1971 Bundesliga scandal. Schalke’s players were the only ones that had sworn in front of a court that they had not deliberately lost their game against Arminia Bielefeld, denying all charges and as long as the German F.A. could not prove their involvement they could not suspend them from partaking in the 1971-72 Bundesliga season.

The Olympic stadium's 80,000 seats were all sold-out on this midsummer night. All Bayern needed was a draw but of course there was no question that the hosts were trying to win in style, to put on a show that would remove all doubts that the German football community may have had about which really was the greatest side in German football. Schalke knew that Bayern would bring the game to them and their penalty area and during the first five minutes, ten Schalke players were positioned in their own box trying to fight off the wave of attacks that Bayern under the command of Franz Beckenbauer sent towards Nigbur’s goal. Center back Rolf Rüssmann didn’t move an inch from Gerd Müller as Schalke’s gameplan was based on a non-scoring Müller getting neutralized being the key to success. Just one or two yards next to the Müller-Rüssmann pair sweeper Klaus Fichtel was on goard in case Müller once managed to beat off his committed marker. In the first minute, Schwarzenbeck had Bayern’s first good chance but his hammer shot was parried by Nigbur. In the second minute sweeper Klaus Fichtel cleared a shot by Hoeness with his head in the very last second. Blow after blow. In the fourth minute, Franz 'Bulle' Roth unleashed one of his feared shots but the ball just went over the bar. Bayern was on fire but at the same time cold as ice. In midfield, Hoeness, Roth and Zobel put a stop at whatever move van Haaren, Scheer and Lütkebohmert were coming up with. Only once did a Bayern player lose his nerves, Franz Beckenbauer of all players was protesting so passionately against a corner decision that the referee had no other choice than to book the Kaiser (43rd minute). Bayern’s best chance to score had come in the 17th minute when Nigbur had already been beat by Uli Hoeness’ diagonal shot but Müller missed the ball at the far post of the empty goal! Bayern’s powerplay continued but the Schalke defense was well positioned plus the guests managed to place some dangerous counter attacks, but to no avail. Then Bayern were lucky when Maier had miscalculated a cross by Libuda, Klaus Scheer headed the ball but luckily for the goalkeeper Johnny Hansen stood at the goalline clearing the situation (7th minute). After another wonderful cross by Libuda, the forward-rushing Klaus Scheer didn’t hit the ball perfectly with a volley, the ball flew straight towards Maier, otherwise Schalke could have well scored. And then center back Schwarzenbeck had brought on a dangerous situation with a careless back pass, but Sepp Maier managed to grab the ball before Klaus Fischer could reach it. All this happened during the first 15 minutes! After this outburst Schalke again convolved like a hedgehog as Bayern came back in force, with especially the back four increasing the pressure, be it Schwarzenbeck, Hansen, Breitner or Beckenbauer who had already steadily accommodated himself in the midfield. Bayern thus had a constant preponderance in midfield but somehow they failed to score the first goal. Bayern’s two wingers Franz Krauthausen and Willi Hoffmann additionally constantly switched positions. Schalke was hurried from one spot to the other! After 20 minutes Krauthausen tested Nigbur with a shot from 32 yards but the Schalke goalie tipped it over the bar. With virtually every Bayern player attacking, Schalke had every player assembled around their goal blocking every shot. In the 24th minute, Roth again sent one of his hard shots in Nigbur’s direction but the Schalke keeper fisted the ball. After 27 minutes Schalke had another corner but Breitner intercepted and immediately started a run towards the Schalke half, Breitner passed to Hoeness who was in a good position to shoot but Hoeness preferred to pass the ball to Müller instead but Müller was unable to get on the ball as Rüssmann intervened. Then finally, after 31 minutes Bayern got in front: After Roth had swung in Bayern’s ninth corner (the third in a row), a Schalke defender deflected the ball, it came to Johnny Hansen who headed the ball into the back of Schalke’s net: 1-0! A highly deserved lead for the home side. Just a minute later Hansen tried it again, this time with a shot but the ball went over the top. A full back had scored the all-important goal, "What Hansen can do, I can do as well" probably was what Paul Breitner said to himself. Nine minutes later he further proved that he was one of the best full backs in the business: Breitner had started a galloping run into the Schalke half of the pitch on his left side, beating off several Schalke players on his way to the box, there he knew Gerd Müller was lurking, a quick pass to the 'Bomber' who played the ball back with a subtle touch straight into Breitner’s path and from there (difficult angle!) Breitner hit the ball past Nigbur into the Schalke goal: 2-0! A superb goal that proved how modern Bayern’s play was. Faced with being down 0-2 quite suddenly after having defended their asses off, Schalke started some angry attacks but their shots all went over the top. The enthused Bayern crowd gloatingly chanted "Üben! Üben!" (practice!). Then came the half-time whistle.

Schalke was facing a very difficult challenge. They needed to score three goals but that was impossible if they kept to their defensive gameplan. But then again they reasoned if they should really 'waste' their energy for this lost cause when they still had the chance to win the German Cup three days later against Kaiserslautern. Whatever Schalke’s intentions for the second half were, when both teams were on the pitch again Bayern continued to exert its total powerplay, clearly wanting to finish off their rivals with a decisive third goal. Rainer Zobel started a solo in the 46th minute but failed to get past Nigbur. Then Franz Roth hammered the ball just inches past the post (47th). Two minutes later Franz Krauthausen repeated the trick! Schalke tried their luck with steep counter attacks but Breitner tackled the ball off Libuda in a very calm manner and so did Beckenbauer against Erwin Kremers. There seemed to be no way to beat the cool Bayern players. That’s what it seemed like ... but after 54 minutes, Erwin Kremers showed how to do it. He beat off Beckenbauer, Hansen couldn’t reach him but Maier just managed to clear to a corner. Kremers brought in the corner, tall center back Rolf Rüssmann got his head to the ball, Maier couldn’t control the ball and there was Klaus Fischer who, in the best Gerd-Müller-tradition, tapped the ball over the line: 2-1! Now Schalke had some 35 minutes left to add the two needed goals! But Bayern had no intentions to decrease their pressure on the Schalke goal. The most brilliant scene of the whole match came after a tremendous solo by Beckenbauer, shortly before the box he tapped the ball towards Müller who – as always in these situations – passed it back to Beckenbauer but then Beckenbauer’s shot only hit the goal post! A stunning scene deserving of a goal. The way Beckenbauer and Müller had perfected the art of the 1-2 was always stunning. They don’t make players like them anymore. However it was clearly visible that Bayern had not been shocked by Fischer’s goal, to the contrary they were even spurred by it. Bayern were on the road to glory and had no intentions to change their path. What was especially remarkable about Bayern’s forechecking during the first 70 minutes was not that it was not only possible due to superior force and strength but also made possible because of the tremendous safety of the players whenever they were on the ball. Almost no bad passes, quick one-touch combinations between six or seven players, then a pass forward to Müller or one of the wingers. The crowd was thrilled and responded very positively upon the demonstration of the high art of football that they were allowed to witness that night.

If there still had been any doubts who would remain victorious that night and crown themselves as best German club side, these were finally removed ten minutes after Schalke had scored their goal. Gerd Müller had addressed a through ball towards Bayern’s left wing Willi Hoffmann. Hoffmann faced Nigbur who came rushing out of his goal but he managed to get his boot on it faster than Nigbur could get his hands on it and thus put it past Nigbur to score the third goal: 3-1! Unluckily for Schalke, their great goalkeeper got injured in that scene and had to be replaced by the untried reserve keeper Helmut Pabst. When Nigbur was carried off the pitch, he was applauded by the 80,000 in the stadium, a moving scene. Ten minutes before time, Bayern managed to raise the score so that it gradually came closer to mirror the proportions on the pitch. Uli Hoeness had scored the landmark 100th league goal of Bayern’s 1971-72 Bundesliga campaign. Reserve keeper Pabst couldn’t control a shot by Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness was there: 4-1! Of course everything was now decided but there was still one goal left. Kaiser Franz scored one minute before time with a freekick after Rüssmann had fouled Müller: 5-1! It was the first time since May 1967 that Bayern had scored five goals in a Bundesliga game without Gerd Müller being among the scorers. But although Müller failed to score in this game, he was still one of the best players on the pitch, together with Breitner and Beckenbauer. Dropping back from the spotlight of the penalty box, Müller had impressed in his role of playmaker behind the forwards. The people in the stadium were naturally in high spirits after all this football bliss, singing the traditional German football well-feel anthem "So ein Tag, so wunderschön wie heute, so ein Tag, dürfte nie vergehen!" (Such a day, as wonderful as today, such a day, should never pass!). Despite being devastatingly beaten, Schalke got to terms with the reality that Bayern simply was a class above them and concentrated on the German Cup final on the following Saturday. They won it in style beating Kaiserslautern 5-0.

After the game the Bayern players stated the following:

Roth: "Marvellous! Wonderful! Everyone fought! It wasn’t as easy as it looked. Schalke’s concentrated defense was hard to beat. Only after the 3-1 did Schalke back down."

Breitner: "It feels good being champion."

Beckenbauer: "We are a deserving champion. The unity and closeness of the team, fighting effort until the very last minute and the fact that everyone fulfilled the task he was assigned brought us so far."

Hoeness: "I was fully concentrating on this game like I have never done before. Mine was Bayern’s hundredth goal. But at the time I shot it, I didn’t realize that. Anyway I’m not so keen on that statistic, I’m simply glad that I was successful."

Schwarzenbeck: "We are now the champions. It couldn’t have come any other way. Anything else would have been an impudence!"

------------------------------------------------- Bayern Munich

--------------------------------------------------------Maier

-----------------------------Hansen----Beckenbauer---Schwarzenbeck---Breitner

-----------------------------------U.Hoeness--------Roth--------Zobel

----------------------------------Krauthausen-----G.Müller------W.Hoffmann

---------------------------------------------Manager: Udo Lattek

------------------------------------------------ FC Schalke 04

------------------------------------E.Kremers-----Fischer------Libuda

-----------------------------------van Haaren-----Scheer-----Lütkebohmert

------------------------------H.Kremers---Rüssmann----Fichtel-----Huhse

--------------------------------------------------------Nigbur

----------------------------------------------Manager: Ivica Horvat

----------------------------------------------Subs:
----------------------------------------------70 Pabst in, Nigbur out
Click to expand...

dor02 · Dec 15, 2008

Check out Kremers with the flick at the end of the Bayern Munich 5-1 FC Schalke 04 match!

Gregoriak · Dec 26, 2008

The short highlights of this game (which is not part of the 111 games featured in this thread) show Borussia Mönchengladbach winning their first German championship in 1970. Gives a bit of a taste of the ridiculously offensive ways of Mönchengladbach in the late-60s/early-70s:

[youtube]X__TOARtoz0[/youtube]

BongartzUndRivera · Dec 26, 2008

In the 5-5 match, it was probably the best match that Erwinb Kremers ever played. Wonder which goal had beaten Erwin's goal for Tor Der Monats....

The score sheet of 5-1 was a dissapointment as a season decider on the last match of the season played among contenders, but Bayern were too strong when they played with concentration back then.

Schalke had a tremendous 71/72 season as they were 2nd (again could have become champs if they had won Bayern on the last day) and won the DFB Pokal (5-0 again Kaiserslautern in Hanover) despite having problems with the match fix scandal in 70/71 season, but I think they achived that result becuase of the scandal as worries had pulled up club together though they really had a great mannschaft.

So maybe a NO scandal have resulted to a NO 2nd place in my opinion, but what if S04 won in that final match in Munich?
-Would DFB forgive or lessen the penalties of those players involved?

Or if there were no scandals or if Offenbach's chairman Horst Canellas had shut his mouth about the match fix?
-Would they have advanced further at the 72/73 Euro Cup Winners Cup?
-What would have happened to the World Cup squad of 1974 with the players who were banned? Would Libuda's career have exteneded as a decent player for another couple of seasons?

It wasn't the last time Die Knappen missed the championship on the last day of the season (76/77, 00/01), but the team of 71/72 left a lot of IFs & BUTs.