Torhagel, dramas, delusions of feeling
Those Bundesliga finals drove us insane
By Martin Armbruster
May 27, 2023 at 8:41 am
For ten years FC Bayern dominated the Bundesliga at will, the championship race degenerated into a permanent bore. In 2023 it will finally be different: On the last day of the game, the fight for the trophy is still open, and the fans of Borussia Dortmund and Munich are alarmed. Time to look back at the most exciting finals of the season.
Season 1977/78 – Cologne celebrations despite Gladbach’s hail of goals
Rhenish rivals 1. FC Köln and Borussia Mönchengladbach are tied at the top in 1978 after 33 match days. Before the final on April 29th everything speaks for the Cologne coached by Hennes Weisweiler. FC has a goal difference that is ten goals better and has to play for relegated FC St. Pauli. In Düsseldorf’s Rheinstadion, Gladbach will welcome the “other” Borussia from Dortmund, who are bobbing about in the insignificance of midfield under Otto Rehhagel.
The season finale nevertheless develops an unexpected tension and goes down in history as a goal spectacle. The “colts” around Berti Vogts and Jupp Heynckes trample mercilessly over completely indisposed Dortmunders. The score is 6-0 at the break, half of Cologne’s goal advantage is gone (FC are only 1-0 up at half-time over St.Pauli). After the restart, the barrage of goals against Rehhagel’s black and yellow Tagesluschen continues – after 90 minutes an unbelievable 12:0 is emblazoned, so far the highest win in Bundesliga history. Despite the show, Gladbach looks down the drain. Cologne steps up a gear in the far north, wins 5-0 and saves a three-goal lead over the finish line.
Season 1991/92 – “Lebbe is walking again”
One of the overused words in sports journalism is “incredible”. However, that is exactly what happened in the 1992 season finale. Eintracht Frankfurt, VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund all have 54:20 points on their accounts on matchday 38 (the league had been increased to 20 teams after reunification). Frankfurt has the best hand: Dragoslav Stepanovic’s team (+36) has a clearly better goal difference than Stuttgart (+29), while Dortmund (+18) actually only have an outside chance. And yet it looks a long time after the black and yellow surprise in the final. BVB takes the lead early on in Duisburg, Frankfurt struggles with Hansa Rostock, Stuttgart with Leverkusen – in both games the score is 1-1 until the final stages.
In the last ten minutes, events unfold. In the game in Rostock, Eintracht’s supposed winning and championship goal is called back, in Leverkusen “Motzki” Matthias Sammer complains from the field, giving VfB a man down. And it gets even wilder: Frankfurt’s Edgar Schmidt hits the post in Rostock, Stuttgart’s Manfred Kastl instead of in the same only aluminum. VfB keep running: Ludwig Kögl crosses, Guido Buchwald spirals into the air, heads the ball into the net in the 86th minute and hits BVB, coached by Ottmar Hitzfeld, right in the heart. Everything looks like a Swabian prank, as the Frankfurt drama in the East comes to an unprecedented level. Ralf Weber is brought down in the Hansa penalty area clearly against the rules, the referee Alfons Berg’s whistle remains silent. Instead of a penalty and championship, Eintracht conceded the 1:2 in return – Stuttgart celebrated its fourth championship title, Frankfurt spits poison and bile. Only Stepanovic remains calm. “Lebbe is walking,” says “Steppi”. Point.
1994/95 season – Bayern spoiled King Otto’s third Bremen coronation
In the 1994/95 season, Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund fought a gripping duel for the trophy. Otto Rehhagel’s Werder team are one point ahead of Dortmund’s Hitzfeld team before the last matchday. However, SVW still has to play at the big FC Bayern, while BVB welcomes Hamburger SV, who have been colorless this season, in the Westfalenstadion. Spicy: It is Rehhagel’s last game as a Bremen coach, the football coach revered as “King Otto” on the Weser is moving to Bayern of all places. In the Olympic Stadium, his future players Rehhagel screwed up the third championship with Werder (after 1987/88 and 1992/93). Bremen goes swimming with 1: 3. In Dortmund, on the other hand, Andreas Möller gets BVB on course with a magic free kick, and in the end it’s 2-0. The black and yellow part of the pot explodes, Dortmund is champion again for the first time since 1957.
Season 1999/2000 – Bayer Leverkusen’s Waterloo in Unterhaching
Unterhaching – a suburb of Munich is the scene of Bayer Leverkusen’s darkest hour in 2000. Before the last matchday of the season, everything looks like the first Leverkusen championship title. The “Werkself” of coaching guru Christoph Daum goes south with a three-point lead over Bayern, one point in the game association is enough. The Munich team receive Werder Bremen a few kilometers away – and hope for a football miracle. In the event of a Bayer bankruptcy, the better goal difference would make the Hitzfeld team champions if they beat Werder.
Leverkusen acts in the Unterhachinger Sportpark as if stricken with fear, Michael Ballack initiates the disaster with an own goal after 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Bayern are in a frenzy, leading 3-1 at half-time – and can hardly believe what they hear from “Haching”. After the break, FCB maintains their lead while Leverkusen fail to pull themselves together. Bayer conceded the 0:2 in the 72nd minute and fell into the valley of tears.
Season 2000/2001 – Master of hearts is not always master
In terms of drama, the 33rd match day in 2001 can hardly be topped. Table leaders Schalke 04 (59 points before kick-off) choke to a seemingly valuable 0-0 in Stuttgart, because pursuers Bayern Munich (59 points before kick-off, but worse goal record) only got a 1-1 draw at home against Kaiserslautern. But then the 90th minute hits, the master sheet turns within a few seconds. Krassimir Balakow shoots down the “Royal Blues”, Hitzfeld joker Alexander Zickler slams Bayern to victory with a volley hammer. A point at HSV is enough for the Munich side on the last day of the game for the third title in a row, S04 must win at home against SpVgg Unterhaching, who have been relegated.
At first it looks like the Hachinger are playing noble helpers for their big neighbor again. Lorenz-Günther Köstner’s squad takes the lead 2-0 and 3-2 before Huub Stevens’ “squires” pull themselves together, turn the game around and win 5-3. End to Schalke. Meanwhile, the unimaginative Bavarians held the title-winning 0-0 in Hamburg’s Volkspark, longed for the final whistle – and, like Schalke on the previous game day, were severely punished in the 90th minute. Sergej Barbarez puts the Munich champion knockout with a head. That’s how it seems, that’s how it depends on Schalke, where suddenly all the dams break.
A television reporter falsely confirmed to Schalke that it was over in Hamburg, S04 had the shell safe. Manager Rudi Assauer cheers like ten thousand others in blue and white. But then they get it in Gelsenkirchen that the Bayern game is still going on and stare spellbound at the big screen in the Parkstadion. To this day, Schalke still can’t believe what they see: how Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn (“keep going, keep going!”) yells at his men. How HSV goalkeeper Matthias Schober (on loan from Schalke) picks up an alleged back pass with his hand and referee Markus Merk whistles an indirect free kick. How the Swede Patrick Andersson somehow hammered the pill through the many legs of the Hamburg Wall into the net. How in the end the Bavarians cheer again, Kahn stretches the bowl into the sky and calls: “There it is!” Schalke is only four minutes champion. Master of hearts, but nothing more.