Forty minutes into the event, Truus van Gaal took the microphone and recalled her initial contact with future husband Louis. An April 1995 fixture between Bayern and Ajax in Amsterdam played a pivotal role. “I’m very sorry,” said Truus, turning to face top FCB officials Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Karl Hopfner and Uli Hoeneß, sitting alongside her in the front row. “Ajax won…4-1?” Truus turned a quizzical gaze to Hopfner. “4-2,” he ventured. They were interrupted by a booming bass voice from the stage: “It was 5-2!” Resistance would have been futile. In one short corrective sentence, the whole force of Louis van Gaal’s personality came shining through.
The personality in question, Louis van Gaal the man and coach, was the centre of attention on Wednesday morning, at the launch of the German edition of the 59-year-old’s two-volume book Biography & Vision. The tomes, weighing in at an impressive 3 kilos, were first published in the Netherlands a year ago. The German edition includes two chapters devoted to FC Bayern.
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