The question, of course, is: how would Superpippo have done it? Would this poison with his unfathomable striker’s thighs have struck from his typical lurking position? Or would he have somehow cheated the ball into the goal from the fray? Tricky thing, a long time ago, but the memories of Filippo Inzaghi, the eternal Bayern tormentor, they are known to live on.
They are branded in the club history of Munich, because it is like this: If someone at Bayern sleeps badly, then he must have dreamed of Inzaghi and his goals. He almost always scored against Munich, six times in five games in total. He couldn’t be seen, but then: Zack, in and ouch. “He was born offside and offside he dies,” said Sir Alex Ferguson once about the most Italian of all Italians who used to lurk in or just barely offside. He was born in Piacenza in the Po Valley.
Bensebaini reminds a little of the Bayern scare Inzaghi
Which brings us to Ramy Bensebaini, a revenant Superpippo from the present. This foolish cup evening in Mönchengladbach also served as proof that the species of the so-called “Bayern Schrecks” has reproduced another specimen. The Borussia full-back scored two goals, one after a pass from Jonas Hofmann to make it 2-0, and another with a penalty to make it 3-0. The way he loaded Manuel Neuer with a flat chip actually fulfilled the facts of unheard-of cheek.
Now two goals against Bayern are in themselves no reason to rewrite chronicles. For example, a person named Sidney Govou from Lyon scored two goals in a game against Bayern. A certain Dodi Lukebakio, then Fortuna Düsseldorf, shocked the record champions three times. And Munich’s Roy Makaay pestered four times (in two games), which is why Bayern just bought him (as well as the Aachen art shooter Jan Schlaudraff) as a precaution. Will that also happen to Bensebaini, 26? After all, he’s a repeat offender.
He has annoyed the Munich team once before with two goals, in December 2019 that was the 2-1 win for Gladbach in the Bundesliga. “I can’t remember having seen something so good from my own team,” said Gladbach coach Adi Hütter. He was mainly referring to the initial phase, when one of the best among all the good Gladbachers was the Algerians on the left side of Borussia. With his offensive urge, he duped Munich several times. Wherever he appeared, danger and Bavarian chaos flared up.
Incidentally, Bensebaini is almost one of a kind among Bayern scares. Most of his predecessors differed from the Gladbacher in one characteristic: They were all attackers. Terrifying, voracious toreros like Jupp Heynckes (nine goals against Bayern), Horst Hrubesch (nine), Anton Polster (ten), Fritz Walter (eleven), Ulf Kirsten (eleven), Klaus Fischer (12), Bernd Hölzenbein (13), Manni Burgsmüller (13) and Cristiano Ronaldo (nine). Or Franz Brungs from 1. FC Nürnberg, who scored five times in one game. Bensebaini does not interpret his role as a left-back like a striker, but his 14 hits in two years as Borussia are an indication of his qualities.
Anyone who objects that this Bensebaini scores many of his goals from penalties should be informed: Capable goal scorers are not picky. A gate is a gate. The great Superpippo also took this maxim to heart, especially against Bayern.