An early deficit, iron will in the second half and craftiness in injury time. Or as Daniel van Buyten put it in a nutshell: "A great game!" Exactly ten years ago on 30 March 2010, Ivica Olić stole victory for FC Bayern in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals and turned around a memorable game .
Bad start
Bayern could not have got off to a much worse start as they fell behind after just 63 seconds. A free-kick fell right at the feet of incoming Wayne Rooney, who struck completely unmarked from five meters. The English side dominated the first half but goalkeeper Hans Jörg Butt parried one shot after the other. With the support of the fans, the home team held out and started to improve. Franck Ribéry and Olić were the driving forces behind the FCB attack, but the Munich team were unable to score and so it remained 1-0 at the break.
All-out attack in second half
Bayern started well after the break, but failed to find a way past Edwin van der Sar in the United goal. And an end-to-end contest ensued with a constant stream of chances for both teams.
It was not until the 77th minute that the German record champions finally scored. A free-kick by Ribéry was deflected by Rooney past his keeper and into the net. It was a deserved equaliser for the home side and the Allianz Arena erupted as fans and players celebrated the goal against the previous year's finalists.
Olić out of nowhere
Bayern could smell victory and threw everything behind the final push. Injury time was already running and substitute Mario Gomez dribbled to the edge of the box, where he was stopped by Nemanja Vidić – or so the Man Utd defence thought. But nobody had picked up Olić. He came sprinting out of nowhere, stole the ball from the foot of Patrice Evra and emerged directly in front of van der Sar. Once through, he kept his cool to convert the goal and make it 2-1! "He's waiting for the goalkeeper to move," enthused captain Mark van Bommel about the winning goal. The yellow card for taking off his shirt was just a formality which the goalscorer accepted without any complaint.
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Come the final whistle, Bayern had turned around the game against a side featuring the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. "We played incredible football against an absolutely top team," said coach Louis van Gaal afterwards. Olić himself dubbed this game "his greatest since he was at Bayern".
To the finals
This put Bayern in a good starting position for the second leg. At the Theatre of Dreams, they made it to the semi-finals thanks to an outstanding Robben volley despite losing 3-2 on the night. Van Gaal's men then defeated Lyon 1-0 and 3-0 to reach the Champions League final for the first time since 2001. However, Olić & Co suffered a 2-0 defeat to Inter Milan in the final.
📸 The game against Man Utd here in pictures:
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