Lukas Podolski‘s slide-rule chip from midfield into the path of Hamit Altintop was delicacy and precision itself. The Turkey international went to the opposite extreme, unleashing what Jupp Heynckes termed “a blast of energy” to hammer the ball off the post and in. Altintop’s 14-metre thunderbolt registered 113 km/h, the hardest shot of the game. It was a vital one too, for it proved the winning goal in Bayern’s 2-1 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach.
“The plan was for the strikers to draw the central defenders out of position, creating space for us to burst forward,” Altintop revealed after the final whistle, “it worked brilliantly. And then the way I struck it and the way it went in – I had the little bit of luck you always need.” As it happens, Lady Fortune smiled on Altintop in an eerily similar way just under six years ago.
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