Exactly 23 years ago to the day, Jürgen Klinsmann made a piece of Bundesliga history with him drop-kicking an advertising prop on the side of the pitch. Looking Back with fcbayern.com.
A kick for the history books
In addition to appearances for Hessen Kassel, Hertha BSC or Karlsruher SC, Carsten Lakies also played ten minutes for FC Bayern in his footballing career. The former attacker may not be known to every fan of the record champion at first glance, but everyone will probably recall the incident surrounding his FCB debut: just before Lakies entered the big Bundesliga stage on 10 May 1997, another player kicked his way into the annals.
Everything was in fact set up for a perfect afternoon from a Bayern perspective. The side top of the table welcomed league basement boys Freiburg to Bavaria, but, instead of living up to their role as match favourites, the men from Munich struggled against the team that would soon be relegated. The final phase of the game came around, but still no goals had been scored. Slowly, the displeasure of the spectators at the Olympiastadion grew louder and louder and whistles could be heard in the stands.
Before and after the infamous kick: FCB below par
Then Bayern coach Giovanni Trapattoni had to react. Jürgen Klinsmann, who'd been unlucky on that day and was the best FCB attacker that Bundesliga season, scoring 13 goals before the Freiburg game, was to be replaced by amateur Lakies, who was to provide some fresh legs for the last ten minutes of the game. Klinsmann, however, did not like this at all. The frustration over the substitution had to be taken out on something - and was released via a powerful kick to a Sanyo advertising barrel set up on the side of the pitch.
The 1990 World Cup winner delivered a few rather unpleasant words in the direction of his coach - and was to immediately regret his outburst: "I scraped my whole shin when I kicked the barrel," Klinsmann said several years later, by which point he was able to self-deprecate about his tantrum. In any case, Trapattoni took this misstep in his stride: Klinsmann was back in the starting eleven the following game at Hansa Rostock and apologised in his own way by scoring a goal in a 3-0 victory. Bayern ended the season in successful fashion - and so Carsten Lakies can now call himself a German champion thanks to his historic ten-minute appearance in May 1997.
On display in the club museum since 2012
FC Bayern purchased the original barrel from a collector in April 2012. Since then, visitors can admire it in the FC Bayern Club Museum. Click here for the virtual tour.
In the "Looking Back" feature, fcbayern.com regularly presents stories from our photo archives. Click the link below to look back on the story of another special photo: Giovane Élber's kiss on the knee:
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