Uli Hoeneß‘ legendary sentence was ringing in everybody's ears at FC Bayern: "We have to go through," demanded the then club president 18 months before at the annual general meeting regarding the Champions League final in 2012 at the Allianz Arena.
One club – one mission
The final on home turf was the dream of the whole club and within touching distance after a great season in the Champions League. FC Bayern had two steps to take in the semi-final against Real Madrid – and the first leg exactly eight years ago could hardly have been more dramatic from an FCB perspective.
Photos from the dramatic match at the Allianz Arena are in the gallery:
When the teams ran out at the Allianz Arena, Jupp Heynckes' side were presented with the mission once again: Road to Munich was the slogan of UEFA lit up large in the stadium. Bayern fought hard and gave their all to be able to play at their home ground in the Champions League season.
Ribéry’s goal not enough
Real Madrid faced attack after attack. However, just before the 90 minutes were up, the scoreboard still pointed to a 1-1 draw after goals from Franck Ribéry and Mesut Özil, which could have been too little ahead of the second leg. The hosts definitely needed another goal.
With the target in front of his eyes, Philipp Lahm mustered all his courage. The Bayern skipper left his opponent Fábio Coentrão standing and suddenly had plenty of room on the right flank. He crossed the ball for Mario Gomez to make it 2-1 on 89 minutes and the Allianz Arena went wild – the hope of the Finale dahoam was alive again.
In the second leg a week later, Bayern took the final step at the Éstadio Santiago Bernabeu for a place in the eagerly awaited Finale dahoam. But that's another story…
Tragedy in the Finale dahoam and salvation at Wembley: We look back at the most legendary knockout matches of the past decade:
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