Here's a truly obscure question: what was the name of the Lufthansa plane that took FC Bayern to Japan in the summer of 2006? The correct answer is: Paderborn! Contrary to first impressions, and despite the fact Bayern and the men from East Westphalia have never before met in the Bundesliga, there are a handful of links between the clubs. FCB assistant coach Hermann Gerland hails from the region and Paderborn boss André Breitenreiter scored his first Bundesliga goal as a player against Bayern.
FCB teams and Paderborn have in fact contested three matches in the past, with Thomas Müller, Holger Badstuber and Claudio Pizarro all playing a part, as fcbayern.de discovered in a trawl through the archives.
27 August 2001: The DFB Cup clash
The clubs met in the first round of the 2001/02 domestic knockout cup with the freshly-crowned Champions League winners from Munich visiting the then regional league team. “It's our match of the millennium,” commented Michael Born, then as now Paderborn managing director. SCP’s Hermann-Löns-Stadion had a capacity of just 5,000 so the match was moved to Bielefeld. A 26,620 crowd loudly cheered on the underdogs but Bayern were in no mood for slip-ups.
Carsten Jancker (6), Roque Santa Cruz (23), Alexander Zickler (51, 71) and Niko Kovac (65) fired the Bundesliga side into a 5–0 lead, with Claudio Pizarro coming on as a 76th-minute sub. Paderborn’s Giuseppe Canale hit the bar in the 82nd minute and Javor Valtichinov saw his penalty saved by Oliver Kahn two minutes later, but the ever-willing minnows were rewarded with Krzysztof Karpowicz’ consolation goal a minute from time.
27 September 2008: Third division showdown
In the eighth round of matches in the third division, the undefeated FC Bayern reserves travelled to face leaders Paderborn. An impressive 9,431 crowd at the Paragon Arena saw the home team “show more will to win,” as Bayern boss Gerland said following a 2–1 defeat.
The man of the match honours went to two-goal Paderborn striker Frank Löning, with Daniel Sikorski pulling one back for FCB. Thomas Müller and Holger Badstuber completed the full 90 minutes for the Reds, and the home line-up also included a man who could appear at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday, right-back Jens Wemmer.
22 March 2009: Thomas on target
A young man who would later go on to be a World Cup winner helped make the difference when the teams met in the reverse fixture later that season. The 900 crowd at Grünwalder Stadion saw Müller hit the post just two minutes into the match, but the striker converted a Mehmet Ekici free-kick and added his name to the scoresheet in the 10th minute.
It turned out to be another close encounter, with Sören Gonther equalising for the team lying second in the standings only for Deniz Yilmaz to restore the FCB reserves’ lead before half-time. Gerland's troops went on to win it 2–1. Paderborn fielded Daniel Brückner that day and he is likely to fill the left back slot at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday.
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