Referee Schumacher blew for a penalty, prompting Daniel Sikorski, Mehmet Ekici and Christian Saba into a tussle for the ball. Which of the Bayern reserves should take the spot kick? But the crowd was chanting "ButtButtButtButt“, coach Hermann Gerland signalled his approval – and Hans-Jörg Butt accepted the responsibility.
"It was only 2-0 and not over by a long way, so I wanted Jörg to take the penalty. I was sure he'd score,“ Gerland reported after Butt stepped up and buried the award. The 34-year-old opted for a well-placed angled drive, making the score 3-0 and effectively sealing Bayern II's third division victory over VfR Aalen.
Goalkeeper Butt now has close on 30 goals to his name in the pro game. However, it has never been a case of scoring for its own sake. "It's to do with shouldering responsibility,“ he explained to fcbayern.de, revealing how he first ever came to be regarded as a regular penalty taker.
Interview: Hans Jörg Butt:
fcbayern.de: Jörg, you've made history with your penalty against Aalen. You're the first keeper to score in the Champions League, the Bundesliga and the third division.
Hans Jörg Butt: "The second division too, actually. Before I played for Hamburg, I was with Oldenburg in division 2, which is where it all started.“
fcbayern.de: Why did Hans Jörg Butt start taking penalties?
Butt: "It was never because I desperately wanted to score or put myself in the spotlight. It's to do with shouldering responsibility. I started taking penalties in training with Oldenburg, to get a sense of what the taker's feeling when he faces the keeper. We were then awarded a penalty in a match, someone had missed the previous week – and a bunch of the players called me forward.“
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