FC Bayern have met Manchester United eleven times in the Champions League so far. The balance clearly speaks for the record champions. But in the Champions League final in 1999, the Munich team suffered “the mother of all defeats.”
On Wednesday, FC Bayern will play their opening game in the Champions League against Manchester United (from 9 p.m. live in the radio report). With this pairing, Bayern fans can’t help but think of one of the blackest days in the club’s history.
Hoeneß: “An experience like this can break you”
There are many pictures from that evening of May 26, 1999 in Barcelona that one remembers: that of Stefan Effenberg, resigned and with his head hanging low, walking past the Champions League trophy that he had already thought so certain. Uli Hoeneß, then manager of the German record champions, wandered across the Camp Nou lawn and tried to comfort and cheer up the totally disappointed captain Oliver Kahn. “An experience like this can break you,” the honorary president later recalled.
By the time stoppage time arrived, FC Bayern were Champions League winners. “After 90 minutes we had the pot in our hands, then we lost it,” said Alexander Zickler, looking back on what happened.
Mario Basler gave Bayern an early lead with a cunning free kick into the goalkeeper’s corner. Ottmar Hitzfeld’s team dominated the United team around David Beckham. A soulful lob from Mehmet Scholl hit the post, an overhead kick from Carsten Jancker hit the crossbar. The well-deserved 2-0 didn’t happen – it was to be a bitter revenge for Bayern.
102-second knockout for FC Bayern
Because in stoppage time a miracle happened from Manchester’s perspective. Substitute Teddy Sheringham equalized. And then the second joker, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, scored after a corner. “We were all depressed,” says Hitzfeld, looking back.
In front of 90,000 spectators, Bayern’s defense collapsed after the replacement of the exhausted libero Lothar Matthäus. The fair loser Hitzfeld was congratulating his victorious colleague Alex Ferguson in the catacombs of the stadium when their paths crossed. “We hugged each other. He somehow comforted me. That’s how a friendship developed,” reported Hitzfeld.
To this day, this 1:2 is considered the “mother of all defeats.” Two years later, FC Bayern won the Champions League final and brought the trophy back to Munich after a long time.
Müller scored the last one encounter
But the 1999 final was far from the only meeting between the two teams. But despite the long tradition of both teams, it wasn’t until 1998 that Manchester United and FC Bayern faced each other in an official game for the first time. The two games in the group phase of the Champions League were, so to speak, the prelude to the fateful finale. Giovane Elber contributed the premiere goal. But both games ended in a draw.
To date, this is the most common outcome of this encounter. Five of the eleven matches ended without a winner. Munich’s first victory came in the quarter-finals in 2001 – on the way to Champions League success, FC Bayern eliminated Manchester and was able to at least partially gain revenge for the final two years earlier.
In total, Munich won four times against Manchester. This also applies to the last meeting, which was nine years ago. Goalscorer back then: Thomas Müller, who, like Manuel Neuer, is still in the FC Bayern squad today. Manchester was only able to defeat Munich twice.
The Airplane accident from 1958
Manchester United and the city of Munich share the most tragic moment in the club’s history. In 1958, the English record champions traveled home after an away game at Red Star Belgrade and had to stop over in Munich. An accident occurred during takeoff: the plane had problems with the engines and the first two takeoff attempts had already failed. On the third attempt, the plane’s speed suddenly dropped, the remaining distance on the runway was not enough to stop the plane, and the speed was not enough for a successful takeoff.
The plane overshot the runway, broke through a fence, collided with a residential building, caught fire and exploded a short time later. 23 of the 44 people on board were killed, including eight Manchester United players. Two others were so badly injured that they could never play football again. The beginning of February this year marked the 65th anniversary of the accident.
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Source: BR24Sport September 20, 2023 – 9:00 p.m