On August 18, 2001, the ZDF sports studio will show the Werder Bremen game against 1860 Munich. When Löwen trainer Werner Lorant comes into the picture, the reporter says: “The carotid artery pulsates, the body rotates, the adrenaline flows.” After the game, Lorant sits in the gym. In response to the moderator’s critical questions, he defiantly said that he had “a secure job” despite the weak start to the Bundesliga. He will “be at 1860 for many years to come”. On October 18, 2001, the lions lost to FC Bayern – and Lorant was thrown out.
21 years later he is allowed to coach a derby again, the game of the so-called legends in the Olympic Stadium. Lorant is 73 years old, his spiky hair has turned white and he is finally the center of attention again. At the Players Night on Saturday evening, Bayern player Giovane Elber kisses him on the temple, the photo spreads as quickly as Lorant’s facial features derail, certainly with joy. Incidentally, Elber has on Monday in the table football said his fitness could be improved. The lion Horst Heldt made a similar statement – he “only had air for ten minutes”. How good that the coaches are allowed to change on the fly.
Almost everyone still looks passable, the average 50-year-olds who cavort on the lawn in front of 25,000 spectators on Sunday. Some hairs have gone gray, yes, but most bellies aren’t much fatter. Sascha Mölders is the only one still active, but some say he already looks like a legend player at 37 (you can probably tease him, because he does it himself with his collection “Die Wampe von Giesing”).
The only one still active on the ball: Sascha Mölders (1860 Munich, right) against Daniel van Buyten from Bayern.
(Photo: Lennart Preiss/dpa)
Legendary coaches of TSV 1860: Thomas Miller, Werner Lorant, Carsten Wettberg and Roland Kneißl (from left).
(Photo: MIS/Imago)
For Bayern on the bench: Michael Henke, Stefan Effenberg and Rainmond Aumann (from left).
(Photo: MIS/Imago)
At Bayern, who are coached by Stefan Effenberg, Raimond Aumann and Ottmar Hitzfeld’s former assistant coach, Michael Henke, alongside Elber – among others – Claudio Pizarro, Michael Tarnat, Thomas Linke and Hansi Pflügler play. The lions have called up many players from the Lorant era (1992 to 2001 AD), such as Thomas Riedl, who scored the only goal in the 1999 derby win, the wing twins Cerny & Heldt, Gerald Vanenburg, Marco Kurz, Daniel Bierofka and the heart lion Michael Hofmann in goal.
And Benny Lauth, who confirmed before the game to the emeritus stadium announcer Stefan Schneider that the 50-year-old Olympic Stadium has lost none of its appeal and charisma: “I was a spectator, ball boy and player here – the way from the bus to the stadium was something very special today .” The loudspeakers then sound: “Football is coming home.” 1860 and Bavaria used to be at home in the Olympic Stadium.
There’s something going on – still: Benjamin Lauth, 41, in a running duel with Sammy Kuffour, 46 (right).
(Photo: Lennart Preiss/dpa)
Chased by three blues: Giovane Elber, 50.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Real derby atmosphere: 25,000 followed the action in a wide circle and clearly enjoyed the game.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
And sporty? They have become slower, the old warriors, and their movements more angular, but the ball still obeys them, of course. In the fourth minute, Ivica Olic crossed to the middle and this time Elber didn’t kiss the coach’s temples, but put the ball into the goal. In the stands, meanwhile, the figures of the Bayern defenders are being discussed, with Daniel Van Buyten coming off very well and Samuel Kuffour not so well.
In general: the spectators. They sing, they join in, and they reward the players for their efforts, even if they don’t succeed, like Bierofka in his diving header parody next to the goal. Mölders and Stefan Reisinger take the lead in 1860, and half the stadium rises as the Blues sing “Get up if you’re lions!”
After that, goalkeeper Butt equalized with a penalty in front of the surprisingly calm coaching Lorant, and just before half-time Hofmann was surprised by a chip from 45 meters; the cheeky shooter was Zvjezdan Misimovic. Then Stefan Lehmann, the Bayern stadium announcer, sends the players “to the oxygen tent”, vulgo: to the tea break.
After the break, the brisk Mölders (2), twice Lauth (once even with a chip from half Misimovic distance), Paulo Sergio, Pizarro, Witeczek and Olic (2) meet to make it 8: 6 for Bayern, and then it is the cheerful class reunion for the birthday of the Olympic Stadium ended again.